Deviance
by Culper Sr
Summary: A pervert is on the loose in Konoha! The slippery peeper has garnered so much attention that Tsunade got sick of the complaints and turned to the best possible shinobi she could entrust with the task of catching him. Jiraiya! Due to a misunderstanding, Naruto and some of his friends somehow get caught up for the ride. NaruIno
1. I

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_** **Yo, surprisingly I was going to write another 1shot which I don't normally do but then this got longer and longer and too many good ideas started popping into my head so it won't be. I wouldn't expect it to be a particularly long story though, as I don't want any big side projects. Not much to say right now since yall read the summary (Or I'd assume you did… Don't know why anyone would read a story without reading the summary but…)**

 **Oh, and note that this takes place in the Shippuden time… Just so you picture all the characters correctly and all.**

 **Enjoy**

Naruto had just left the pleasure of his beloved.

I am of course speaking of Ichiraku ramen. What else?

"Ahh man that hit the spot even better than usual," He said to himself as he strolled through the streets of the Leaf village, absentmindedly rubbing his stomach feeling very satisfied with his daily nine bowls.

"Naruto?" A surprised, but friendly voice greeted, capturing his attention.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to face the beauty. "Knew it was you… No one else wears _that_ much orange," Ino told him, sticking her tongue out playfully.

"Oh… Hey Ino, what's up?"

"If you don't mind, walk with me if you want to chat I'm kind of late as it is…"

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, I don't have anything to do anyway. I was just going to train for another hour or two," He claimed, resting his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion, coming to her side and matching her pace. _I guess it can't hurt to talk to Ino for a little… I don't see her very often after all._

"You sure do that a lot you know that… Don't you ever just go and do stuff for fun?" She inquired.

Naruto thought about it a moment and laughed it off sheepishly. "No, not very often I guess. Eat, train, eat again, train, eat, sleep." Ino sweatdropped.

"I don't know what else to do anyway…" He commented, scratching his chin. "I really don't have any hobbies or things I've been wanting to do—OH, wait… Outside of trying to get a date with Sakura that is!"

Ino laughed amusedly. "Well I'm actually meeting up with Sakura right now," She smirked deviously.

"Oh really? Cool."

"Yeah," Ino continued, smirk growing wider. "Maybe you can ask her out right now and steal her away from me."

Naruto didn't say anything for a second, in thought apparently and Ino was doing her best not to ruin her scheme by busting up in gut clenching laughter. "Hm.. If you're sure you don't mind I guess I could try. But you know how she is… She'll probably hit me, call me and idiot and then say no," He reminded somewhat depressingly.

"Oh come on! Where's that Naruto I know that never gives up! Are you telling me you don't _love_ your Sakura anymore?" She teased.

"Wh-No of course I do!"

"Prove it!" She challenged.

He raised an eyebrow at his fellow blonde. "All right. How?"

"Ask her to spend a beautiful and _passionate_ evening with you when we arrive at our destination!"

Naruto blushed. "Uh I will definitely not… She'll castrate me or something, ya know?"

Ino giggled. "Well I have to admit that _is_ a bad choice of words… But it's not my job to write your lines for you."

"By the way, you never mentioned where this 'destination' was anyway…"

Ino brushed her banes out of her sight and huffed. "You're on a need to know basis, Naruto. Don't worry we're almost there!"

Naruto sighed, figuring it didn't really matter since he'd probably just leave her and Sakura (after she declines another date and punches him) to go train like he originally planned. So in the end, why should he care where they were going? Besides, if Ino said they were almost there, they were close. Turning the corner, they continued down the road in silence, both having a hard time thinking of something else to talk about since neither knew each other particularly well to begin with.

"Ah… And we're here!" Ino announced, as the two stopped walking in front of their destination. "Now… head on inside and ask Sakura out!" She ordered, barely containing her urge to cackle senselessly at the look on the Uzumaki's face.

"SHE'S IN THE BATHHOUSE!? INNOOO…!" The blonde girl in question finally let herself go in a laughing fit at his expense, supporting herself against the fence.

"You convinced me to come with you just to do _this_ didn't you!" He shouted accusingly. "You're evil!"

Eventually recomposing herself Ino smiled at the irritated orange clad shinobi. "It was all in good fun; I thought you of all people could respect a prank. Besides, I didn't really do anything… And for the record I didn't decide to set you up for that until you brought her up in the first place."

Naruto sighed. "It's fine…" Then he chuckled slightly. "I guess I had that one coming… I should've pressed you harder when I asked where we were going."

Ino giggled in response. "Well, I'm sure she's wondering what's been taking me so long… See you around Nar—" She was cut off as Naruto suddenly clamped a hand on her mouth and silently mouthed ' _shh,'_

"Do you hear that?" He whispered.

Ino shook her head confusedly in response. "Hear what?"

 _There it is again!_ Naruto thought. Seeing Ino's expression alter, it was confirmed that she heard it that time too. Motioning her to follow him, Naruto quietly moved to the corner of the fence and slyly looked around it before taking cover again. _Just as I thought…_

"So?" Ino whispered, to his right, looking angry. No, _furious_ at the prospect. "It's some pervert again, right?" _Oh God… I never knew Ino could be so… terrifying._ Naruto thought, seeing the _'I'm totally gonna make this guy impotent'_ look in the Yamanaka's usually intoxicating eyes. Wait, what?

 _Sakura, Sakura, Sakura!_ He inwardly berated the random thought of attraction to Ino's eyes. _Wait a minute… SAKURA!_ It was at the point Naruto realized that Sakura was in the bathhouse and that perverted bastard was watching her. "Worse…" He finally replied. "Pervy Sage."

Yep, much much worse than some random peeping tom.

Ino gave him a look of disgust. "Greeeaat… So, what are we going to do? He's your sensei, and your responsibility."

"Well to be honest… I usually let him do what he wants…" Naruto admitted.

"WHAT?"

" _Shh!"_ Naruto urged, covering her mouth again. He waited a few seconds before removing it and carefully peeking around the corner to see that Jiraiya was so lost in mumbling screw up things to himself that he didn't even hear her outburst.

Fully returning to cover again he sighed out of relief and was met with Ino's glare. "What do you expect?" He shrugged. "I can't devote my life to watching Pervy Sage and stopping him from doing this crap all the time, now can I?"

Ino's intense glare rested on him for a number of seconds before she huffed in annoyance and it dissipated. "I guess not… But you're doing something this time!" She demanded, glare instantly returning. "I'm going in there, Naruto… ME… So HE is not allowed to be doing this right now!"

"Don't worry," Naruto chuckled. "I wasn't going to look the other way this time. You said Sakura is in there already, right? I can't let him get away with _that…_ "

Ino crossed her arms in an adorable pout. "Oh so it's okay if he see's me though?"

Naruto sweatdropped. "I didn't say that… It's just—"

Ino smirked at him deviously again. "That's fine, I'll remember that Naruto. If I ever catch Jiraiya doing that when I'm enjoying myself in there I'll beat the crap out of him and you'll be next!" She grinned. "I'll hunt you down, Naruto!"

"Oi, I thought we just agreed that I can't babysit him all the time!"

"Someone has to pay for it!"

"Why can't it just be him? Why me!?"

"Cause he's your responsibility…"

"God damn it, Ino. What if I'm on a mission!?"

The girl shrugged. "I'll let that slide I guess."

Naruto's eye began twitching rapidly. _Thanks a lot Pervy sage, thannnks a lot! This is such a WONDERFUL side-benefit of your teachings. As if it wasn't bad enough that you do this in the first place!_ "All right… so what should we do to him?" He asked, calming down a bit.

"We confront him and beat him up… Duh. Like any pervert."

"He's a Sannin…" He reminded. "So it's not _that_ easy. And trust me, he's protective of his… eye candy."

Ino's eye twitched at that and Naruto continued. "But we do have the element of surprise! Pervy Sage can never focus when he's staring at a girl's… anything, really."

"Okay…" The Yamanaka nodded in thought and snapped her fingers. "I know! We'll restrain him and alert everyone inside that someone's watching! Then all the girls will come out and crush him… including _Sakura_ and her ferocious strength."

"Hm…" Naruto nodded agreeably. "One problem… If all the girls have nothing but a towel on and they beat Pervy Sage up… He'd enjoy it."

Ino gaped at him. "Is he really that fucked up?"

"Have you met him?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"But I want Sakura to be the one to punch him!" Ino insisted, knowing how much that would hurt. "Besides Naruto… Aren't you _intrigued_ about the idea of Sakura annihilating your sensei in nothing but a towel?" She teased menacingly.

Naruto gulped and brought his hand to his face, only able to close one nostril in time to prevent his nose from spraying blood out. The other nostril expelled the liquid violently on Ino's T-shirt, likely creating a stain that would be a pain for her to get out.

"Naruto!"

All she got in response was a grin. "That's so not cool!"

"It was your fault that I did that; I don't want to hear it."

"Whatever," She scoffed, pushing the matter aside. "So what do we do?"

"Well, we just got to get creative I guess. Have any jutsus that would come in handy?" Naruto queried.

Ino's face flushed momentarily, causing Naruto to raise a confused eyebrow at her. "I… would prefer it if I _didn't_ have to venture my mind into THAT man's body."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle again. "All right…"

"Hey, I know!" Ino's face suddenly brightened. "Why don't you summon some toads and have them pin him down for us?"

Naruto face palmed. "Seriously? Who do you think provided me with the summoning contract in the first place…? That would never work on him! And Rasengan is out of the picture too for the same reason."

The two blondes stood there for awhile in silence, trying to come up with something good when Ino was getting impatient. "It's times like this I wish I knew a summoning jutsu that would teleport my lazy ass teammate over here so he can just immobilize my target for me."

"…What other times could you possibly wish that?"

"On missions that he's not with me, using my clan jutsu on people can at times be… a drag in his own words," She elaborated getting a laugh out of the male blonde.

"What's so funny?" A third voice asked, approaching them out of the blue. "Wait, Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"Hey Sakura!" He greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Forehead," The other blonde greeted.

"Ino-pig…" She greeted, suddenly angry and glaring at Naruto. "Was Naruto here before you…? _'passing by?'_ "

 _Damn, her voice is starting to sound more demonic than that bastard fox._ He raised his hands up in defense. "Woah, woah calm down Sakura… I ran into Ino on her way here!"

Ino giggled at her friend's conclusions. "Yep it's true, but there _is_ someone watching. A certain sensei of a certain someone's."

"WHAT!?" Sakura screeched, seeing Ino's thumb directed at Naruto meaning it could only be Jiraiya. After all, if it was Kakashi she wouldn't have needed to point a thumb at Naruto she could have just said 'your sensei.'

"WHERE?"

"He's right around this corner, we've been trying to—" Before Ino could finish her explanation Sakura had already raced around catch the Sannin and broke a number of bones with very audible, crushing behemoth-like punches, causing both Naruto _and_ Ino to pale a bit.

"Ya know, for once I feel bad for Pervy Sage when this happened… And I also think that fantasy you made me picture has effectively been ruined," Naruto commented. Ino just nodded wordlessly.

Shortly after, Naruto and Ino were conversing with Sakura while she (begrudgingly) healed Jiraiya's injuries. "So Forehead-girl, why were you leaving so soon?"

"I was bored and got tired of waiting on you. It's no fun trying relax in there with no one you know to talk to… What took you?"

"Oh you know… My dad held me up at the flower shop longer than I expected. We were real busy… then I ran into Naruto and told him if he wanted to chat he had to walk with me since I was already late and we heard the old perv and spent a bunch of time trying to decide how to deal with him."

"Yeah… Didn't think that talking to Ino for a few minutes would lead to me running into you Sakura…" Then he glanced down at the remains of Jiraiya. "Or you Pervy Sage."

"Well if you'd train less and spend more time with me more interesting things would happen to you," Ino smirked.

To Jiraiya's regret, Sakura halted her healing jutsu and Naruto's face suddenly felt really warm as the two members of Team Seven just stared at Ino awkwardly. _What does she mean by that?_ "Not how I intended for that to sound…" Ino backtracked. Sakura and Naruto both blinked and seemed to slip out of the trance and Sakura returned to healing the perv.

Eventually Jiraiya was fully healed and able to talk again. "I'm serious! You guys interrupted a very important mission!"

"YEAH RIGHT!" Naruto and Sakura spit back in unison.

"I really mean it! You can ask Tsunade herself!"

"Oh I will!" Sakura scoffed. "And she'll break everything I just broke when she finds out you were doing _that_ instead!"

"You don't understand! This… This was all surveillance!" The Sannin claimed.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard…" Ino facepalmed.

"No kidding," Sakura seconded.

"Why even bother Pervy Sage… We all know what you do."

"Damn it listen to me! There's a pervert on the loose and Tsunade's been receiving a lot of complaints."

"Gee, I wonder who that could be…"

Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tsunade's tasked me with catching him due to my… expertise," He explained.

Naruto openly laughed. "Granny must've drank so much sake her brain wasn't able to process that all the complaints were about _you_!" Ino and Sakura soon joined him in laughing at the Toad Sannin.

"I will prove it's not me!"

Naruto and his two kunoichi companions stared at him skeptically then shared looks at one another, nodding. "All right, how do you plan to do that?" Sakura spoke for the group.

"Easy!" Jiraiya assured. "All you have to do is join me on my mission, and once we find him you'll know for sure that this was a real assignment and that it really wasn't me!"

"Hm…" The three pondered.

"Fine," Ino agreed.

"Ino was just telling me I should do something other than train all the time… So sure, why not," Naruto joined.

"On one condition…" Sakura responded, narrowing her dagger-glare on the Sannin. "You won't be taking advantage of any more situations like this."

"Of course, of course…" _Why did I invite them! Why!_

"Ahem… But I'm getting a bit tired and feel like drowning myself in sake. So the four of us will meet up tomorrow and get to work on finding this guy," He told the teen shinobi. "Now…" He then added no longer speaking to them but himself. "Maybe Tsunade would like to drink with me… and do _other_ things later!" He mused with sparkling eyes.

"…" The others stared at him, deadpanned.

"So… Pervy Sage?" Naruto broke him of his stupor, completely ignoring what was just implied about the current Hokage. "Where are we supposed to find you tomorrow?"

"Oh… Here's as good of a place as any I guess!"

"Like hell it is!" Sakura growled. "You'd just make sure you showed up early before we were around for your _surveillance._ "

 _Damn it… Was worth a shot._ "Outside the Hokage's tower then," He decided as he walked away from the others giving a wave of farewell.

The other three said nothing at first, until Naruto broke the silence by laughing to himself, gaining inquisitive looks from the girls. "We just volunteered to help _Pervy Sage_ catch a pervert! It's ridiculous!" He explained, getting a light smile out of Sakura and Ino to chuckle a little at the thought as well.

"So, Forehead… Want to go back in there with me?"

"Mm.. Meh, not really in the mood to after that."

"I guess you got a point there," Ino sighed. "I'll go pay Shika or Choji a visit then. Haven't seen either of them in a over a week."

"All right, take care Ino-pig! Don't be late tomorrow…"

"Byeee.." She bid, walking away.

"See ya tomorrow Ino! Wait… Pervy Sage never told us what time to be there! Urgh!"

Ino stopped in her tracks and turned around as the three shared a deadpanned look. "Wow… We're really stupid."

"No, he's really stupid!" Sakura corrected. "Naruto, find him and let us know when could you please?"

"Me? Aw damn it. Sure Sakura…"

"Aw… She's got you wrapped around her finger doesn't she? Poor Naruto!"

"Shut up Ino-pig!"

"Uh… I'll drop by each of your places later and tell you what he says," A blushing Naruto assured them and walked away before a smirking Ino could say anything else.

After he was gone, Ino smiled at the still glaring Sakura. "I'm off to see my teammates then, see ya."

* * *

The blonde Uzumaki laid on the ground twitching slightly. "I didn't say anything about it being a date…Sakura."

"Oh… I'm sorry, my bad," She apologized making her hands glow green to tend to the bruise she inflicted on her teammate's head. "Let's go then, I'll even pay for both of us because of this little misunderstanding," She offered.

 _Geez, I tell her all I meant was dinner and not a date and she's instantly happy and offers to pay!?_ "No, that's fine."

"Come on Naruto, I don't mind! I've been making a lot of extra at the hospital lately."

"That's not what I was talking about," He retorted, receiving a puzzled look from the pinkette. "Anyway Jiraiya told me we have to meet up bright and early. Apparently this mystery pervert is smart enough to make a few of his rounds while a lot of women are in their nightly garments and stuff. I'll see you at six A.M. tomorrow."

Sakura blinked. "Six? Okay… But what about dinner?"

"Oh, sorry I can't now. Silly me, forgot I have to tell Ino still," He excused himself and walked off with his hands in his pockets.

 _Yeah right…_ She thought. "I guess he was more upset about me punching him than usual," She figured, feeling a little bad. "Oh well," She shrugged. "He'll forget about it by morning, besides it was just a misunderstanding," She decided, and went back inside her apartment.

* * *

"I'm sorry Naruto… But Ino's not home at the moment. Actually, come to think of it…" Inoichi scratched his head. "I have no clue where she is by now; she left to meet Sakura at the bathouse several hours ago. There's no way she's still there."

"Oh that's right… She did say something about visiting Shikamaru and Choji! Okay thanks anyways sir…" He said and began to walk away.

"Uh Naruto? If you find her, tell her to get home soon… We're going to have dinner in awhile here."

"Sure, no problem."

Inoichi nodded in thanks to the other blonde and retreated back into the privacy of his house. "Shikamaru's place is closer than Choji's…" Naruto mused. "I'll check there first."

As he began walking towards the Nara compound, his thoughts drifted back to his little encounter with Sakura. _I didn't have to make an excuse and walk out on her like that… She even offered to pay even though she knows how much I eat… What's wrong with me?_

Naruto frowned at those thoughts. _Am I really defending her? She practically dented my skull just because she THOUGHT I asked her out. We're teammates! Teammates go have meals together all the time! Besides, aren't I close enough to her that she should be at least a LITTLE nicer about declining my invitations?_

He sighed in frustration. _Whatever, I should just forget about this._ He decided, entering the Nara district and working his way to where Shikamaru and his parents lived via rooftop. Upon reaching the house, he heard familiar voices coming from the balcony and walked over to it, finding Choji, Ino and Shikamaru together catching up a bit on what they'd been doing the passed week. "Hey guys," The Uzumaki greeted foxily, leaping onto the small deck landing between Ino and Choji scaring the former who squealed in surprise. Naruto blinked, had he really came so subtly and silent? He hadn't meant to.

"NARUTO! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Oops, my bad Ino…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Troublesome…"

"Sup Shikamaru, Choji. It's been awhile since I've seen you guys."

"Hey Naruto, sorry about that but I've been really busy learning an advanced Akimichi clan jutsu!" Choji explained with a hint of pride. "When I manage to make a breakthrough on it I'll be on a whole new level than before!"

"Nice! I've been training like crazy lately too. Well, I always do that though, right?" He laughed.

" _Eat, train, eat again, train, eat, sleep_ ," Ino sarcastically recited, making Naruto laugh even harder while the other two members of Team Ten just stared confusedly, the joke lost on them.

"So, is this just a social call or what Naruto? If you actually need help from me or my dad or something don't hesitate to ask."

Ino gawked at him in surprise. "Did you just volunteer to _work_?"

"I'm not _that_ lazy…" He sneered. "But it's just that it would be far more troublesome if Naruto was afraid to ask us for a hand and does something real stupid on his own and gets hurt. He's the kind of guy who would definitely do that," The Nara pointed out.

Naruto chuckled at his analysis. "Yeah you do have a point there, but don't worry I'm actually here for Ino not you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You came to my house to see _Ino_? What? Do you think we're more than friends or something?" Choji laughed in their expense.

Ino blushed. "Shut up Shika! He came looking here cause he knew I said I was going to visit you guys today."

"Mhm… Six A.M tomorrow Ino. Oh and I actually did drop by your place and checked there first, your dad says dinner will be ready soon. See you later guys, I've gotta hit my favorite ramen stand!"

"See ya Naruto!" Choji bid farewell.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but figured he'd just ask Ino. "Lates."

"Until tomorrow then," Ino smiled and the Uzumaki took off.

"Naruto, Sakura and I have a mission tomorrow, sort of," She then explained.

"Mission?"

" _Sort_ of?" The guys inquired.

"Yeah," She giggled. "It's pretty funny actually… We're helping Jiraiya track down a pervert within the village!"

Choji roared with laughter and Shikamaru even chuckled and let out an amused troublesome.

 ** _A/N:_** **Like? I think this will be a fun thing to write on the side… especially since I know exactly who the pervert is going to be which will not be directly revealed until we're near the end of the story and in my humble opinion I have some pretty funny ideas in my head for this.**


	2. II

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_** **Nothing to say, cept' Enjoy**

"Excellent," Jiraiya said with a clap of his hands. "You're all here on time," As Sakura approached the, a few minutes early but being the last to arrive.

"Just because our sensei is Kakashi doesn't mean you should expect us to be three hours late…" Naruto chuckled amusedly in agreement but the Sannin ignored her comment, wanting to get down to business straight away.

"The pervert is likely beginning my shared… hobby right about now, so we need to get busy."

All three of the teens gawked at him deadpanned, even though they were hardly surprised by his accurate admission. It just seemed ridiculous to be on a "mission" to catch a pervert while being under the command of a guy who enjoyed referring to himself as a super pervert. It just wasn't right…

"We'll split up in two's, one of you with me the other two on your own. The sooner we find this guy the better… I'm tired of the competition."

"Compe…tition?" Ino repeated with an eye twitch.

Jiraiya shrugged. "He's being talked about around the village more than I am."

"So… Let me get this straight, you're not just a 'super pervert,' but an attention whore too?" She asked incredulously.

"What? No, of course not! I am a humble super pervert…"

"Right… Ok then."

Naruto shook his head and snickered at their conversation, snapping Jiraiya back to the task at hand. "Decide who's going with who… We meet back up here in three hours!"

"But what if we actually find him?" Sakura asked, "You never told us."

Jiraiya grinned, "Ah ah ahh… Don't assume it's a man!"

"Pervy Sage…" Naruto sweatdropped, "You would be hoping all of this commotion is being caused by a girl…"

The Sannin cleared his throat to answer her nonetheless, "If you encounter the pervert, you're authorized to apprehend them in Tsunade's words: 'by any means necessary',"

"All right that's enough for now! We better hurry up or we won't find them! Let's go you old perv…" Ino hurried the Toad Sannin as Sakura and Naruto gasped in surprise that she actually _chose_ to work with the Sannin over either of them.

 _Wow, I assumed I would've had to go with him._ Naruto stared.

Sakura however was skeptical. _What's she up to?_

It became clear the Haruno was right to feel that way, based on the wink Ino shot at Naruto before the two departed, mouthing something with her lips. ' _You owe me.'_

"Let's get going, Sakura," Naruto smiled, trying to appear in a good mood even though he was still a little sore about their latest encounter, "That pervert probably isn't going to turn himself in!"

Sakura followed the blonde without responding to that, instead addressing Ino. "What was that about, her winking at you?"

"Huh? I don't know…" He played dumb.

"You can't lie to me," Sakura warned him, "I know you too well, and you're not very good at it in the first place."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or find it insulting…"

"Both," Sakura laughed, "Compliment as a friend, insult from one shinobi to another."

Naruto sighed but appeared amused; as far as he was concerned it was better to keep her off track than to let her—

"So, tell me. What's she up to? Ino would never choose to work with someone like _Jiraiya_ for three hours instead of me, Naruto."

 _Damn it._ "How should I know? Maybe she's mad at you?" He tried, but Sakura just glared at him as they continued to walk.

"I just told you, you're terrible at lying to me! What are you hiding?"

"Nothing, I swear! I don't even hang out with Ino… Just cause I ran into her yesterday and talked for awhile doesn't make us best pals or something."

Her glare crystallized as she grabbed his arm and pulled them both to a stop, staring at him threateningly. "Naruto…" The stern reply came and he had a feeling this conversation was about to head straight to hell if he kept playing this game with her.

"She _didn't_ tell me anything," He reaffirmed, "But if I had to guess… She did it so we'd be alone to encourage me into making a move on you, which I didn't plan on doing."

"Why would Ino care about that?"

"I don't know! Maybe she thinks we'd be a good match."

Sakura scoffed, "Yeah right."

That did it, something snapped. "What the hell is your problem with me, Sakura!?" The tone of which he used was unlike any tone he'd ever spoken to her before. Yes, Naruto had spoken to her angrily or offended once or twice in the past, but this was beyond that. This was rage, pent up aggression that was being subconsciously drawn on at her attitude at the very idea of being with him. She acted like the mere thought repulsed her, and it was what he'd wanted on the contrary for years. One can only be rejected so rudely and openly so many times before they feel the need to shake things off their chest.

The pinkette flinched at the cold tone; to say that was un-Naruto like was understatement of the year. "Answer me! You owe me that much."

Sakura recovered from her initial surprise and the two engaged in a glaring match before she responded. "I don't have any problem with you! What are you…"

"Then _why_ are you disgusted every time I even seem like I'm trying to get closer to you?"

"I do not!" She refuted.

"Oh yeah?" He snarled, "Well how the hell am I supposed to take it the way you act!?"

"We can't be together Naruto, we just can't."

"You're not telling me anything, you're just proving me right! You don't have any actual reasons why we can't give it a shot."

"We're teammates, it's unprofessional…"

"Wh- Bullshit! Do you think I'm stupid? That didn't stop you form chasing Sasuke!" He pointed a damning finger at her.

"That's not the same!"

"How!?"

"I was in love with Sasuke before we even graduated! You…You.. You were just infatuated with me at the time," She was sure to say 'were,' and 'at the time,' in order to acknowledge she believed it was possible he actually loved her now, but not back then.

"What kind of fucking logic is that?" Naruto deadpanned, it was rather strange of him to swear to much but he didn't give a damn at the moment. "If I was just infatuated with you, the same goes for you and Ino with the bastard. You can't just say it's different!"

She frowned at her teammate, "Don't compare Ino and I when it comes to Sasuke… She was only infatuated too, just like you with me."

"Ohhh right!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Everyone's crush was infatuation except _yours_."

"It's true…" She insisted, "Ino moved on from Sasuke after he left the village, she got over it. I didn't, that's all the proof I need."

"I never got over you, so you're contradicting yourself!" He yelled, so mad he didn't even care what embarrassing things he was admitting to her, like it mattered… She'd known he liked her for years.

"You haven't gotten over it because—"She stopped herself.

"Because…?"

She averted his gaze, not really wanting to say this to him, but decided he was so mad already she would never have a more appropriate time to admit her opinion. "You're immature," And there it was, what she really thought of his feelings towards her.

For some reason, actually hearing her say that stung him into silence, and he settled for just staring at her. "Listen… Naruto, I didn't want to hurt you like this but you flew off the handle! I won't date a teammate, period."

The Uzumaki turned away, but had one thing to say before splitting up to work on their so called mission. "You'd do it for Sasuke."

* * *

Jiraiya and Ino had been patrolling for an hour now. The Sannin was surprisingly taking the assignment seriously, as if some part of his pride were at stake. A bored Yamanaka couldn't help but wonder why her partner wasn't acting like his normal goofy self, leering at everything that moved.

"Lord Jiraiya?" She said respectfully, seeing no need to refer to him as an 'old perv' when not in the presense of Naruto or Sakura. Besides, he wasn't acting like that at the moment.

Her voice disrupted his thoughts and he turned to look at her, "Huh?"

"If I may ask… Why is this making you so tense? Shouldn't it be child's play for a Sannin to catch some random pervert and hand him over to the Hokage? I mean… You weren't serious about being upset that he was having more rumors spread around than you… right?"

Jiraiya chuckled and stopped walking, she did as well. "Actually that does upset me… But not for the reasons you're thinking," Seeing her inquisitive look he elaborated, "I'm a pervert, it's true, not going to deny it… But, I'm not a fool that slobbers over himself watching them blatantly out in the open."

She shot him a deadpanned look and was about to dispute but he raised up a hand to stop her, "I do that on purpose… to make sure I have a reputation of that nature. Sometimes having a well known, eccentric reputation comes in handy to a shinobi so I broadcast my undesirable traits to the world. Do you really think a Jonin level ninja can't find more subtle ways to spy on women?"

"That's… a really good point," She admitted. "Why doesn't anyone else realize that?"

"I prefer that they don't," Jiraiya smirked, "But I'm sure a few see through it… Kind of like how Kakashi reads porn everywhere he goes… My porn," He then added with satisfaction.

"Wow…" And here Ino thought Jiraiya and Kakashi just didn't care what anyone thought of them because of the level of shinobi they were. Nope, they just shared what they did with the world for a negative look.

"I've been hunting for this guy for three days already," Jiraiya restarted their conversation as they began walking once more, "He gets caught everyday somewhere, but he manages to slip away before I get him, he doesn't even leave a trail behind…"

"But wouldn't that mean he's a shinobi?"

"Probably… Not necessarily though, there are other professions with people who know how to cover their tracks; that's why I never said it was. Anyone who doesn't think _I_ could go around watching people undress without being noticed… are idiots. Hell, you're a Chunin you should be able to do it, most of the village's shinobi have the capability to if they wanted."

"How comforting…" Ino sweatdropped.

Jiraiya laughed, "I speak only the truth!…" The fact he was expecting the culprit to be a shinobi was why he had to take it seriously, a shinobi that was perving on women and being caught everyday was bad for the Leaf's image. Ironically, Jiraiya saw this as a problem. In his personal case, it wasn't such a big deal (to him anyway) because he perved on them in public settings like the bathhouse, and he also took missions that kept him away from the village for long extensive time periods like Naruto's recent training trip. This person, whoever he may be… was being seen, making his rounds at people's _homes_. That was far worse, that deprived people of their sense of security and it reflected badly on all Konoha shinobi. The fact he did it daily was an even larger issue.

After a moment of silence passed between them, and another moment of wandering around aimlessly hoping for a lead of some kind to present itself, Ino noticed the neighborhood they were now entering. The Yamanaka flower shop was only a few blocks away from here. "I'll be right back…" She said, turning the other direction.

"What are you doing?"

"Bathroom, just stick to the main streets and I'll find you easily," With that, the blonde and the white haired split up.

Once he was sure she wouldn't hear him, Jiraiya rolled his eyes and rambled about it, "Women. One hour of walking around impatiently and she has to find an excuse to take a break. I'm sure there will be some kind of 'complication' that impedes her from catching up right away."

He then laughed, "And then she'll apologize and if I act upset she'll beg for forgiveness with those damn puppy dog eyes…" He predicted before his mood deflated, "And I won't stand a chance… Damn it."

The Sannin was lifted from the depressing thought of what power the female gender had over him as his ears perked at the sound of a scream, a panicking high pitched scream that indicated to him the pervert was nearby, well… the other pervert I should say. Jumping into shinobi mode, he sprinted passed by several confused civilians, some of which were looking in the direction they'd heard the scream come from. Seeing a produce stand with an awning, he smirked and leapt onto it, ignoring the protest of a shopkeeper as he used it as a trampoline to get high enough to grab the edge of the roof and eased himself up. _Good thing that supported my weight… if I ripped that marquee and splattered a bunch of fruit I would've looked like a complete dumbass._ Being a notorious pervert was fine, but being depicted as stupid would not sit well with him.

He leapt across a few rooftops before coming to halt, trying to figure out where he was going. Pinpointing the location of the commotion, he rushed towards the area, jumping across the rooftops full speed. He barely stopped himself from jumping a rooftop in the wrong direction when he spotted someone running in the corner of his eye, managing to skid to a halt and leapt off the building, pursuing the suspect.

It became evident that the Sannin was faster than the other guy, as he gained ground on the black clad male who recognized he was being followed by a fellow shinobi, as Jiraiya could now tell their target was indeed a ninja, and began attempting to lose the Sannin by snaking through clusters of buildings and streets in order to lose Jiraiya.

Entering a sizable crowd of civilians and even some passing Genin, Jiraiya feared he lost his prey, but then he spotted a swift burst of movement through his peripheral. _He's hiding behind that crate…_ He processed, walking over to it. Judging by the way the workers were behaving, they hadn't noticed a shinobi ducked for cover behind it, but that wasn't surprising, they were just regular guys tasked with unloading crates of clothing for a department store after all.

"You can come out now," Jiraiya called out with authority, "I know you're hiding behind those crates." _This is great! I have him… I'll prove I was telling the truth to Naruto and the girls… rub it in their faces that I didn't need any help, and maybe even get some… extra reward from Tsunade!_

 _Lord Jiraiya?_ The pervert recognized, and grabbed a kunai.

"Come on already… You're just wasting our time, I saw you move behind there."

Jiraiya was more than a little shocked when what he assumed was a fellow Konoha shinobi launched a kunai that sailed past him and impaled itself in a street post. He almost grabbed the nearest civilian and jumped away to avoid the radius of the blast but he realized it wasn't an explosive tag tied to it… but a picture. _Woah, those are a very nice pair of…_

The pervert bolted away from behind the crates, choosing to go the nearest direction that provided him something to obscure Jiraiya's vision. Meanwhile Jiraiya was momentarily slowed down; instinctively he began his pursuit but stopped in order to retrieve the kunai with the sexy picture on it. After all… it was _evidence_.

Unfortunately, the short time it took for him to retrieve it prevented him from catching up. Konoha had too many intersecting streets and buildings for the pervert to use against him. The trail went cold and fast… But he did secure something of use. Something that was rather nice to look at, but that was just a bonus.

* * *

"Nope, I didn't catch him… But he did throw this at me," He revealed, handing the kunai and sexy picture to Naruto without warning.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at what was attached to the kunai, flipping it over to view the front side before having a prominent nosebleed. "Damn it Pervy Sage," he muttered, shoving it in front of Sakura without looking, who in return rudely ripped it away from his hand unnecessarily, causing Ino to raise an eyebrow but Naruto pretended to be oblivious to both of them.

"Why would the pervert throw a kunai with a nude picture at you?" She gasped.

Jiraiya scratched his chin in mock deep thinking, "Nude pictures are verrry distracting."

"Which is why he got away," Naruto pointed out.

Jiraiya pouted, "In my defense, I had to secure this evidence before continuing my pursuit and he was smart enough to block my vision with buildings and objects."

Ino sighed, "We probably would've got him if I hadn't gone to the bathroom right before this all went down. Sorry…"

"Oh well," Jiraiya replied in a cheerful voice. "Three days and I finally got something on him… Naruto, I want you three to go have that kunai and the picture taken for fingerprint examination. Have it compared to the records of everyone in our ninja rosters. I'm going out to drink… After informing Tsunade of today's developments of course."

"All right… See you tomorrow, Pervy Sage." The sage waved as he walked away, satisfied with the result of the morning's incident and excited at the prospect of getting drunk after getting some good work in.

"I have somewhere to be," Sakura lied, tossing the picture-kunai to Ino. "I thought we would be done by now so I didn't leave my schedule open, bye."

The pinkette began stalking off without another word, a confused Yamanaka staring at her back. "Later Forehead…" Naruto didn't bother saying anything, well aware of where her attitude originated from.

"Let's go then, Ino…" Naruto asserted, and was about to start walking when he realized he had no idea where they were supposed to go. "Wait… Who does fingerprints? The T&I crew?"

Ino stared at him like he'd lost it so he explained. "Oi, I was away from the village for more than two years… It's been a long time and I didn't exactly pay attention to the boring stuff."

Ino shook her head with an amused smile and lead the way, "Yes, T&I does it, so could the hospital… and I think maybe the decipher guys, but I'm not sure about the last one and it makes more sense to go to T&I than the hospital for a relatively unimportant domestic issue."

"So T&I it is then… great."

"Something wrong?"

"Eh… To be honest Ibiki Morino is a bit creepy, but I'll be fine."

She giggled, "When I was a little girl, he really scared me and I'd usually try to stay in my room when he was around."

"What? Ibiki would go to your house?"

"Yeah, he and my dad are co-workers, remember? Ibiki's in charge and my dad's his right hand. I know a lot of the people who're in T&I."

"Oh yeah! So this should be no problem at all, getting their help."

As the conversation went dry, Ino examined the boy's body language and expression. She could tell he was pissed; he just managed to hide the fact in his voice and refused to take it out on her apparently. But she could see it in the way he walked. His fists were clenched; his steps were longer and slightly harsher implying he wasn't as relaxed as he pretended to be. She knew how to read into these things because it was used by the T&I crew, which her father wanted her to become a part of. Generally, they didn't get to see their prisoner's walk around, which made this less helpful to know, but examining people's body language was considered good practice for someone who wanted to join T&I because after becoming adept at it, they could learn the more advanced art of deciphering facial expressions and some of the worst prisoner's poker faces.

"Naruto, are you all right?"

"Yeah, why would you ask?" He responded, as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"You and Forehead, spill it!"

Naruto laughed, and it almost sounded genuine but his heart wasn't really in it, "It's nothing… Don't worry about it we just argued a little bit and didn't leave on the best of terms. We'll be fine once we've both had a chance to cool off."

"Couples argument, eh?" She smirked. "What about?"

"Uhm… It's not important," He dodged. "And we're not a couple," He added.

"In due time Naruto…"

"Yeah right," he muttered, recalling the things she said earlier.

Apparently he wasn't quiet enough, or Ino had impeccable hearing. "What? What did she say to you!?" She demanded, put off by Naruto's mindset, so used to him being the stubborn and confident guy that never let anything get him down to get in his way. When they first made Genin, she had no respect for him… But the grit and determination he displayed to her and everyone else through the Chunin exams and missions that he accompanied Team Ten on… Were enlightening.

While she liked to consider everyone from their class a friend, she knew that her and Naruto didn't have much of a relationship beyond mere acquaintance, but she liked him for the most part. He was a good guy, loyal to the core, protective over his friends and he'd been battling the social odds stacked against him since birth, literally. He didn't resent anyone, despite how the first twelve years of his life had gone; he was an amazing person. There's no way she would've taken half as much of the crap he'd put up with.

After Sasuke left the village, she'd wondered when Forehead would get over him, (like she had, mostly) and when Naruto returned from his training trip with the perv she figured it would be perfect. Sakura's number one fanboy had returned to the village, the same fanboy that had been her teammate as Genin, the same fanboy that had matured greatly over the last two and a half years. He still showed interest in his old crush, likely yearning for an opportunity to be with her after spending so much time away, but as far as Ino could see nothing had changed at all since before in that regard. He asks her out, she hits him and says no.

Naruto hesitated, "Urgh hey, look we're almost there and won't have enough time to talk about this!" He deflected.

Ino glared at him, "Naruto, this conversation isn't going away… I WILL have time later."

Naruto sighed and followed her towards the T&I building, allowing her to lead the way since she was far more familiar with them than he was. _I hope she just forgets about this… I don't want to make her mad at Sakura. Besides, if I tell Ino what Sakura said and she yells at Sakura, she'll be even more upset with me! Wait… Why am I worried about Sakura getting mad? I'm pissed at Sakura!_ He reminded himself.

Ino stopped to chat with one of the T&I grunts but Naruto wasn't even paying attention. _Why can't she just butt out of it…? It would be better for all three of us… I guess this is why Shikamaru always says she's the most stubborn, bossy, troublesome person he knows._

"Come on, Naruto… Ibiki's not on duty right now, and my dad's in the middle of a weekly meeting between the council and the clan heads."

"Oh… Who's in charge then?"

"Mibu Shinobu, we're heading to his office right now."

"Okay, guess I'll just leave this to you… You seem to know your way around here real well," he commented.

"Well, my father wants me to join but I'm undecided."

"That's pretty cool, T&I's an important division for the village."

Ino smiled, "Yeah, it is. And they always encourage Yamanaka's to join because of our clan jutsu. I'm just not sure I want to take less missions in exchange for sitting around here. There's a lot of stuff to do besides the actual interrogation, sometimes… a lot of times, they have to try and piece together information they've extracted to make conclusions that must be as accurate as possible which can get stressful and frustrating… Not to mention a Hokage's worst nightmare is always lingering…"

"Paperwork?" He laughed.

"Yup," She joined him in the laughter and lead him into Mibu's office, who raised an annoyed eyebrow at the loud pair of unannounced teenagers.

"Ino Yamanaka, and… You. What do you want?"

Naruto's expression changed completely and glared at the man, not liking what he assumed the man meant by that. "The name's Naruto Uzumaki, you better remember it."

"I don't really give a shit; you're in my office, unpermitted and disturbing my work."

Ino joined Naruto in glaring at the man, and came to his defense. "Naruto was laughing because of me… So if you're going to put on the tough guy act you can direct it at over here," She pointed at herself with a thumb.

Mibu said nothing, but glared at Ino nonetheless. No… he wasn't glaring at Ino, he was glaring at _Inoichi's daughter._ "Well?" Ino spat at the man. "Nothing left to say? Wow you're intimidated by the fact I'm your co-workers daughter… some interrogation officer." Naruto couldn't help but snicker at how handily she disgraced him and turned the man's face red, it was clear that she really pissed him off but he kept himself in check.

Mibu growled at her but held back the temptation to shout vulgarities. This girl was dangerous… Inoichi was a protective father and if his little darling chose to exaggerate his statements or actions it was highly likely Mibu's life was on a one way ticket to hell. He'd worked hard to become the third ranked T&I director, and he wasn't sacrificing that by pissing off Inoichi Yamanaka's daughter and throwing it all away.

"What do you want?"

Ino dropped the picture-kunai on the desk. "We're assisting with a domestic matter; you may have heard of a guy running around the village peeping on people everyday… he threw this kunai at one of the operatives of our mission," She informed professionally, but withheld Jiraiya's name intentionally, because if he chose to comment he might waste their time and she felt like leaving after the way Mibu acted since they walked in. "We need a fingerprint analysis and a cross check with every shinobi on the rosters."

"Very well… Come by in the tomorrow morning and pick it up, I'll have one of the new guys take care of it, it's a rather basic assignment," He pondered aloud, ignoring the fact a nude picture was attached to the kunai but felt like he didn't care about it enough to comment. She _did_ say they were tracking down the pervert that had been causing a ruckus across the whole village as of late.

"Thank you," She said but didn't smile, it was obvious that she disapproved of his attitude towards Naruto, because she just gave him a cold look and turned around to leave, motioning Naruto to follow. She knew Mibu would make sure this was done for them… if he didn't, he'd hear about this from Inoichi and she could tell the man was afraid of that. For an interrogation officer, Mibu wasn't very good at hiding what he was thinking.

"Thanks Ino…" He finally told her, as they stepped out of T&I. "It was nice of you to stick up for me, most of the time I just do it myself…"

She smirked, "You said it yourself, I know these guys a lot better than you… And I know how to deal with someone like Mibu. He brought it on himself; he was way out of line acting like that over a little laughter. And… for trying to pin it on you because of, well you know."

"It's okay, the bastard fox has given me plenty of headaches over the years it's normal."

"No it isn't," She frowned. _He considers that normal?_ "Besides, I didn't mean that… I meant he tried to just act like it was you because who my dad is."

"Oh," Naruto shrugged, "Well whatever it was about… Thank you."

"You're welcome; now shall we resume our previous conversation now?" She said in a teasing voice and wiped the smile off Naruto's face. "You think I'd forget? Not a chance…"

 ** _A/N:_** **Hope it was enjoyable, more dramatic than humorous this time but hey it says Humor/Romance for a reason :P**

 **HOPEFULLY the Naruto/Sakura argument didn't sound too OOC… But I've always wanted Naruto to get fed up with the way she acts about his desire to have a relationship with her and blow off some steam to her face… So I figured what the hell it's my fic it shall happen!**

 **And I admit I may slightly overstate her rudeness but it's not intentional. Til next time… be patient as I must remind you this is a side project, I did 2 Re-Alignment chapters before worrying about this, and that was with Holiday interference on my schedule.**


	3. III

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_** **This chapter starts off shortly after where we left off in chapter 2; it's longer than the previous 2 and delves into character development primarily. Enjoy**

Ino stepped into Naruto's apartment finding herself mildly surprised, the latter turning around to shut and lock the door.

"You take much better care of the place than I remember…" She remarked, "And it smells like strawberries for some reason."

She, Shikamaru and Choji had been in Naruto's apartment once before when they were younger after one of the missions Naruto had been added to their squad for after Sasuke abandoned the village and the team had been suspended. Not that they'd been there very long, but she vividly remembered it as the equivalent of a cesspool.

But now she returned, for the first time in years, (Naruto hadn't been in the village anyway for a long time and when he had they'd never really hung out) gone were the littered empty styrofoam cups and dirty clothing he'd been too lazy to put in a hamper or something. There were no movie discs out of their cases, draped in dust in a disheveled stack beside the TV, and no annoying aroma that suspiciously smelled like bug repellant.

"Ahh yeah… That's because Shizune and Sakura took turns keeping my apartment in order while Pervy Sage and I were gone. When I got back they told me to keep spraying the freshener until it runs out. Apparently my place didn't smell very good before," He explained, sounding annoyed by the last bit.

Ino laughed, "Well you've been back awhile now… And it hasn't reverted back to a pigsty or burnt down or anything so I guess they taught you something," She joked.

"Oi, I take offense to that; how would you even know what my place had been like? You were never here!"

"I was actually! One time, with Choji and Shikamaru. I'm sorry but my five year old cousin takes better care of her room than you did your apartment!" She smirked.

"Shut up…"

She just laughed again and plopped down on the couch, making herself comfortable, "In all seriousness, you're doing a good job this time."

Naruto joined her on the couch, paling slightly as her comment reminded him of something, "Thank grandma Tsunade… She threatened me when Shizune gave me the key she had back. Sakura still has hers, but I don't really mind a teammate having it."

"Why would Lady Tsunade be upset? She didn't like that her apprentices got stuck fixing the pest issues and cleaning up so much?"

"Well originally—Wait, you're telling me you knew about the roaches? From coming over ONE time?"

She shrugged it off, "I remember smelling the bug killer."

Naruto sweatdropped, "Right… Okay, so originally," He began again, "I gave a one key to granny and one key to Sakura. To be honest, I didn't think about this stuff at all but granny offered to take care of it and then I realized I may as well let Sakura have one too since granny's Hokage and busy and… buzzed most of the time."

"Apparently, after I left… Granny came by and was so disgusted she passed the work onto Shizune and I got chewed out big time when this was brought up when we got back," He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Ino laughed in his expense before remembering why she came here with him in the first place, "Now then… You and Forehead-girl, what happened?" She revived, as this was what she wanted to know ever since the pervert-hunting group split up for the day.

For whatever reason, Naruto insisted that if she refused to drop it (against his wishes as he tried everything he could think of to make her go away) then she'd have to hear the story at his apartment so they weren't in public. He was surprised when she went along with it; he thought she would've pressed on the issue a little longer before just giving up and heading to Sakura herself or go home.

Now that he thought about it, it was good he was the one to tell the story… If she got Sakura to talk they'd probably get into it for one reason or another and Naruto didn't want to be the reason why the girls started fighting again. Even though the rivals were best friends again… They still fought over certain things; usually it was quickly water under the bridge but Naruto didn't want to be the center of it… especially if he turned out to be an exception to the rule like Sasuke had been.

"Y-You want some soda or something?" Naruto offered, not particularly wanting to delve into this topic as he rose and headed for the fridge. Whether she accepted or not, he was sure as hell having something. He could use a comforting taste after the day he was having. Maybe after he got Ino off his back he could go train and beat the shit out of some shadow clones, that could be therapeutic.

"Hm..? Uh got any Lime?" She prompted.

"One sec…" He muttered, rearranging some of the cans as he scoured for that flavor, "Ah ha… Last one!" He announced, grabbing it along with a cherry for himself.

Sitting down again, he passed the lime to her and opened his own, starting to recollect his earlier encounter with Sakura.

 ** _Flashback_**

 _"_ _I just told you, you're terrible at lying to me! What are you hiding?"_

 _"_ _Nothing, I swear! I don't even hang out with Ino… Just cause I ran into her yesterday and talked for awhile doesn't make us best pals or something."_

 _Her glare crystallized as she grabbed his arm and pulled them both to a stop, staring at him threateningly. "Naruto…" The stern reply came and he had a feeling this conversation was about to head straight to hell if he kept playing this game with her._

 _"_ _She didn't tell me anything," He reaffirmed, "But if I had to guess… She did it so we'd be alone to encourage me into making a move on you, which I didn't plan on doing."_

 _"_ _Why would Ino care about that?"_

 _"_ _I don't know! Maybe she thinks we'd be a good match."_

 _Sakura scoffed, "Yeah right."_

 _That did it, something snapped. "What the hell is your problem with me, Sakura!?" The tone of which he used was unlike any tone he'd ever spoken to her before. Yes, Naruto had spoken to her angrily or offended once or twice in the past, but this was beyond that. This was rage, pent up aggression that was being subconsciously drawn on at her attitude at the very idea of being with him. She acted like the mere thought repulsed her, and it was what he'd wanted on the contrary for years. One can only be rejected so rudely and openly so many times before they feel the need to shake things off their chest._

 _The pinkette flinched at the cold tone; to say that was un-Naruto like was understatement of the year. "Answer me! You owe me that much."_

 _Sakura recovered from her initial surprise and the two engaged in a glaring match before she responded. "I don't have any problem with you! What are you…"_

 _"_ _Then why are you disgusted every time I even seem like I'm trying to get closer to you?"_

 _"_ _I do not!" She refuted._

 _"_ _Oh yeah?" He snarled, "Well how the hell am I supposed to take it the way you act!?"_

 _"_ _We can't be together Naruto, we just can't."_

 _"_ _You're not telling me anything, you're just proving me right! You don't have any actual reasons why we can't give it a shot."_

 _"_ _We're teammates, it's unprofessional…"_

 _"_ _Wh- Bullshit! Do you think I'm stupid? That didn't stop you from chasing Sasuke!" He pointed a damning finger at her._

 _"_ _That's not the same!"_

 _"_ _How!?"_

 _"_ _I was in love with Sasuke before we even graduated! You…You.. You were just infatuated with me at the time," She was sure to say 'were,' and 'at the time,' in order to acknowledge she believed it was possible he actually loved her now, but not back then._

 _"_ _What kind of fucking logic is that?" Naruto deadpanned, it was rather strange of him to swear so much but he didn't give a damn at the moment. "If I was just infatuated with you, the same goes for you and Ino with the bastard. You can't just say it's different!"_

 _She frowned at her teammate, "Don't compare Ino and I when it comes to Sasuke… She was only infatuated too, just like you with me."_

 _"_ _Ohhh right!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Everyone's crush was infatuation except yours."_

 _"_ _It's true…" She insisted, "Ino moved on from Sasuke after he left the village, she got over it. I didn't, that's all the proof I need."_

 _"_ _I never got over you, so you're contradicting yourself!" He yelled, so mad he didn't even care what embarrassing things he was admitting to her, like it mattered… She'd known he liked her for years._

 _"_ _You haven't gotten over it because—"She stopped herself._

 _"_ _Because…?"_

 _She averted his gaze, not really wanting to say this to him, but decided he was so mad already she would never have a more appropriate time to admit her opinion. "You're immature," And there it was, what she really thought of his feelings towards her._

 _For some reason, actually hearing her say that stung him into silence, and he settled for just staring at her. "Listen… Naruto, I didn't want to hurt you like this but you flew off the handle! I won't date a teammate, period."_

 _The Uzumaki turned away, but had one thing to say before splitting up to work on their so called mission. "You'd do it for Sasuke."_

 ** _Flashback End_**

"I was so pissed off!" The Uzumaki shouted in the present, "I can't believe she said that to me! Immature? Yeah so maybe I was immature when we all became Genin, maybe I was behind her and Sasuke when it came to social things; (Who was he kidding? Sasuke was about as social as box of rocks) So what! Did I have _anyone_ to fucking shape me as a kid? I was gone for two and a half years, and all she see's is some dumb twelve year old that was trying _so_ hard to be noticed and liked… So hard to not be lonelier than…" He trailed off, realizing the train of thought he was having could get a little embarrassing and not to mention awkward to ride along with Ino, who he didn't know that well in the first place.

"Naruto…"

The male blonde averted his eyes, "What?" He murmured in reply, sipping his soda.

 _What is wrong with you Sakura!_ It made absolutely no sense to her. Naruto, the guy who went from least popular, dead last, annoying _moron_ to being a hero to the village in his battle with Gaara, a friend to everyone in the rookie nine, (or at least Ino liked to say all of them were friends with one another) that was likely the strongest of their class after spending two and a half years training with Jiraiya and already having that ridiculous chakra reserve of his.

On top of that, he was perhaps the nicest person she knew. Sure, he could be rude as hell… And had a history of saying things other people wouldn't say as well as disrespecting people of high stature on purpose (such as referring to the Fifth Hokage as 'Grandma' or 'Granny') but if you looked past the surface… He was as good of a person there was in the village.

She thought back to the Chunin exams… Back then, Naruto had no reputation beyond his prankster status and being the dead last academy loser as a shinobi. He kept on surprising her… Well, not just her, but everyone with his performance.

Her view on him changed a lot during those days, as both a shinobi and a person…

 ** _Flashbacks_**

 _"_ _Aww man, why does Kiba get to be so lucky?" Choji complained, reaching into a chip bag._

 _"_ _No kidding…" She agreed, standing to the side of her two teammates as they stared at the monitor._

 _KIBA INUZUKA V.S NARUTO UZUMAKI_

 _"_ _This shouldn't take long," Shikamaru commented, yawning at the prospect of it alone. Naruto was an all right guy, he didn't hate him like most people seemed to… But to pretend the guy had a chance against Kiba was pointless._

 _The match started and Kiba had Naruto on the ground within seconds, and appeared to already be unconscious after a single blow from the Inuzuka's Taijutsu move, "That sure was fast," Ino commented._

 _"_ _I guess Kiba didn't want to waste any energy on him," Shikamaru analyzed._

 _"_ _Hmpt," Kiba snorted, his eyes shutting coolly as he just grinned at how pathetically easy that was, a lone tooth sticking out over his bottom lip, "Proctor, call the match. The kid's already done for."_

 _On the floor, Naruto's eyes reopened as Kiba started to walk away. Naruto pulled himself to his feet, actually laughing at his opponent who snapped his head around in surprise, "Is that all you got?" Naruto asked, raising his head to stare at the Inuzuka with a wide smirk, wiping blood from his face._

 _"_ _I was just checking you out," He explained, "And frankly… You hit like a girl!"_

 _Ino crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance, thinking to herself 'Naruto you idiot! I wouldn't go around saying that if I were you… I could beat you with one hand tied behind my back!'_

 _"_ _You'd be better off sending that puppy to fight me!"_

 _Kiba growled in irritation at the insults, "I'd be careful what I wished for if I were you Naruto… Akamaru probably wouldn't even need my help."_

* * *

 _"_ _Good boy! Come here!" Kiba called, laughing victoriously at the unconscious blonde boy lying on the floor._

 _Akamaru rushed towards him per his request but rather than accept the pets and rubs his owner was going to offer, he leapt at Kiba and bit his arm! "Wh-Ow! Akamaru!?"_

 _Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and everyone else in the arena gaped at what was happening in confusion before Akamaru's form transformed back into Naruto's, who released Kiba's wrist and stepped back in a coughing fit. "You smell worse than the dog!" He shouted accusingly._

 _That remark shook Ino from her shock as she actually had to stifle her laughter to hear her teammates' analysis. It turned out the real Akamaru was hidden by the body on the floor that had actually been a shadow clone, "Smart," Shikamaru commended, "Though he could've done something more useful than biting Kiba's arm…"_

 _"_ _What do you expect? Naruto's always been a showoff," Choji reminded._

 _"_ _True," The Nara agreed._

 _Ino said nothing, she just stared at her fellow blonde with interest. It was like Naruto was just messing around with Kiba, waiting to eliminate him in a 'cool' way as the guy was a bit of an attention whore in her opinion. Could he really be that much better?_

* * *

 _"_ _UZUMAKI BARRAGE!" Naruto shouted as he delivered the final blow personally, sending Kiba to the floor and knocking him out, then landing and dispelling his clones with a triumphant expression on his face as he clamped one hand into a fist and stared at it lost in whatever thoughts he was having._

 _"_ _Wow, who would've thought he could beat Kiba!" Shikamaru exclaimed in amazement, this was the exact opposite of what he expected to happen._

 _"_ _What an upset…" Choji joined._

 _"_ _Mhm…" Ino hummed in agreement with an interested smile on her face. When did Naruto get so good? He was almost 'cool' during that fight. And he won! Seriously, who actually expected him to win?_

 _She shot a glance at a celebrating Sakura who was at the very least happy for her teammate. She and Kakashi had been the only people that even gave the Uzumaki a chance in this fight. She idly wondered if Sasuke would've expected this if he was still in the room…_

* * *

 _"_ _Wait Naruto! If you fight now you will both be disqualified! While his actions are most unyouthful, you must not be too hasty… I will defeat Neji when the time arises, but if you are given the chance before me… That is fine as well."_

 _"_ _Okay bushy brows…" Naruto conceded, his glare not budging off Neji's face._

 _Ino watched this all go down from the upper level with her teammates, horrified by the extend Hinata's own cousin was willing to go to hurt her, "Why—That jerk! How can he do something like that to his own family!"_

 _Shikamaru and Choji said nothing, though agreeing with her… They were utterly speechless at the moment. Their former classmate had just been nearly killed by her own clanmate, and would be dead if not for the interference of the Jonin senseis._

 _She found herself gazing down at the Uzumaki who nearly disqualified himself in rage, wanting to attack Neji and avenge her. Naruto raised back to his feet, with a palm full of blood —Hinata's blood—And glared at Neji with a look in her eyes that strangely reminded her of Sasuke, she could barely make out what he was saying._

 _"_ _I vow to win!" He declared, bringing his fist up determinedly._

 _Ino knew by now that Hinata had a crush on Naruto, but Naruto had always appeared completely oblivious to it and she had thought that was still the case. But… He hadn't acted like they were friends or anything; was he just this protective because Neji crossed the line against a comrade? Don't get me wrong, Ino was pissed off too… But she had no instinct to run down there and pick a fight with the previous class' rookie of the year._

 _Neji however scoffed at what he perceived to be a fool's ignorance, "Vow whatever you please… It won't change anything because my victory is bound by fate."_

* * *

 _"_ _Due to the absence of Sasuke Uchiha, the first match between him and Gaara Sabaku will be postponed for the time being."_

 _Sakura sighed with relief, who was sitting in the stands with Ino, "At least they aren't disqualifying him."_

 _Ino could see the worry etched all over her childhood friend's face, worry for Sasuke obviously… Nearly getting disqualified was nothing compared to the fact his opponent was the insane redheaded freak from Suna. In addition to that, her other teammate had to face Neji…_

 _"_ _Instead, we will begin with the second match. Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga please remain here, the rest of you go to the waiting area," Genma Shiranui instructed._

 _"_ _I heard about this guy! That Hyuga kid's supposed to be some kind of genius they say!" One civilian started up._

 _"_ _Yeah I've heard some stuff too; he's supposed to be like the strongest Genin alive, even more capable than that Uchiha kid."_

 _"_ _Forehead, do you think he has a chance?" Ino prompted, truthfully, she was curious about Naruto. Somehow he was able to make that ridiculous amount of clones, —which Asuma-sensei claimed was impossible for a normal ninja, only citing that Naruto was a 'special case— managed to pull off a major upset against Kiba in which he showed a lot of intelligence to use Kiba's abilities against him, and radiated confidence. Unlike their academy days, he had the ability to back up that confidence which made him a lot less… Well, lame._

 _"_ _Yes," Sakura responded without hesitation._

 _Ino had been hoping for something more insightful than that, "Well I don't know… You know Naruto a lot better than I do; I just saw that one fight. But everyone seems to believe Neji is unbeatable."_

 _Sakura smiled, "They're wrong… Counting Naruto out is a mistake."_

* * *

 _"_ _I.." Neji panted, "Should've known it was a clone. After all, they are your specialty."_

 _"_ _You can change you know," Naruto stared down at him, "After all, you're not a failure like me," He told him with a slight smirk._

 _"_ _I can't believe he did it!" Ino said in the stands, amazed, in the company of a celebrating Sakura._

 _Ino would never see Naruto the same again. In two Chunin exam fights, he'd changed her view on him in almost every way imaginable. His skills as a ninja obviously, beating Neji meant he could beat her so how could she not see him as strong? He'd showcased bravery, fighting tooth and nail to take Neji down even after his tenketsu had been closed. He'd proven to be a loyal and protective comrade with his reaction to what had happened to Hinata, someone he didn't even really know apparently. He began both fights as a supreme underdog, almost laughably so in both before they got started but he tuned everyone out, and defiantly walked away winning both._

 _He was Naruto Uzumaki, and he was anything but the dead last._

 ** _End Flashback_**

Ino hadn't seen anything that he did during the invasion, but she heard the stories of how Naruto managed to defeat Gaara and apparently _change_ him as a person, much like how he'd changed Neji during their fight.

On the occasions that Naruto had been an addition to Team Ten a few times after Sasuke abandoned the village, she'd worked with him and seen him do more things and got to know him a _little_ more than before but that was more than two and a half years ago he'd matured a lot since then and gotten even stronger. How could Sakura see him the way she does?

"Ino?" Naruto snapped his fingers a couple times in front of her face, "What were you going to say?" He asked once he had her attention.

"Sorry, got lost there for a moment…" She apologized, opening her drink finally.

"It's all right," He paused to look at the floor as he sighed, "You're probably mad about what she said about you, right? I understand… If you want to leave and blow off some steam, go ahead. I'll be fine, don't feel like you're obligated to stay with me or anything," He finished and looked at her with an assuring smile.

 _That smile is so fake,_ She thought to herself, "I'm fine… Mad at her, but fine. You're the one who needs to blow off steam," She said, shooting him a sympathetic smile, "I'll leave you alone if you want… Or I can stay for awhile, it's up to you."

Naruto was surprised by that, he expected the Yamanaka to get furious over Sakura's comparison of Ino's crush being 'infatuation' and her own being 'love,' but the blonde girl currently occupying the couch with him only seemed mildly annoyed by it and more sorry for him instead. Maybe she felt bad that this was kind of her fault? She did try to get him to make another move for Sakura and that's what lead to all this in the first place, technically.

But who was he to question it; she offered to keep him company while he was down… Almost no one ever did that for him his entire life. Just Iruka and (after the failed Sasuke retrieval mission) Sakura… but she'd been in even more pain than him over that, so it was more like a shared attempt at coping with his betrayal than anything else.

"And I was just going to say: She's wrong, Naruto. You were immature a few years ago maybe, but we've all grown up a lot since the academy and you don't deserve that label at all!" She told him honestly.

Seriously, Sakura had spent way more time with Naruto since he returned from the training trip, and she couldn't see how much he'd changed? Ino had only run across him a few times and actually had to admit he was probably the one out of the 'Konoha eleven' that she would pick to earn a 'Most Improved,' award. Not only as a shinobi but as a person too.

And that was really saying something, because look at Neji…

After a second of consideration, she felt the need to voice that thought, it might cheer him up to hear a conflicting opinion of what Sakura claimed, especially from another girl his age, "If you ask me, you've grown more than any of us…"

"Thanks Ino…" He smiled, and this time it was genuine, she could see the appreciation in his eyes.

I'm not going to kick you out…" He told her, wanting to make that clear, "But you don't have to stay, either. I'm just going to watch a little TV and relax a bit… Then go train like hell later."

Ino chuckled, she hadn't necessarily expected the TV part but she just knew he was going to say the last thing, "Fine, but I decide what we watch!" She insisted, snatching the remote off his table despite his protest.

"Oooo… You've got the shopping network!" She stated excitedly after rummaging through a few channels and discovering this and stopping flipping through them, waiting for the commercials to pass.

"We're definitely not watching this!"

"Why not?" she asked, taking a drink of her lime soda.

"Because…" He deadpanned, "It's lame. I'm a guy, none of us find that entertaining."

"Pleeeaasee…" She tried, giving him the old puppy-dog eyes move in a cute voice.

Naruto snorted, "What am I? Pervy Sage? I won't be manipulated that easily!"

 _We'll see about that!_ She shouted in her head, "B-Buut _Narutooo_ , I don't have this channel anymore at home!" She complained in a disappointed but still obviously manipulative voice, "Can't you do me this little favor…" She asked him in cutest pitch she could muster, one that she usually only utilized on her father to get her way while also putting a delicate hand on his shoulder for good measure.

Naruto tensed upon contact, he _still_ wasn't quite used to other people touching him after growing up by himself so long, but quickly relaxed, it was just Ino she wouldn't do anything to him. Besides… She was playing games. "For the record, I know what you're trying to do to me. But fine, have fun. I'll just go train now instead of later."

She said she didn't have the channel anymore, so what the hell… He could leave her in his apartment to watch her stupid programs. She'd enjoy it, and he liked making his friends happy. In the meantime, he'd get some work in… Because there was no way in hell he was watching a series of boring shopping shows.

She watched as he stood up and walked into the kitchen to toss his empty soda can in the trash, "Wait, you're leaving me here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I don't mind… Just turn the TV off when you're done and lock the door on your way out," He ordered as he started towards the door.

Ino blinked, he trusted her enough to stay alone in his home? While that was a little surprising she shrugged it off as Naruto being Naruto. He'd probably let any of his friends hang around his place if there was a purpose for it. Without warning she jumped off the couch and hugged the unsuspecting Genin from behind before he could turn the knob.

Her arms were crossed over his chest with her hands resting on his sides. She tip-toed up a little to prop her chin up on his shoulder as the Uzumaki stood deathly frozen. She could feel how his entire body locked up in tension just from her embrace which both stroked her ego and bothered her at the same time. On one hand, it was always nice to have that affect on a guy, on the other hand… Well, she didn't like that it was that easy to put someone she considered a friend in a state of panic just because of a hug.

Naruto was experiencing a feeling he'd rarely dealt with in his life. The other times hadn't been with someone he actually knew, but rather during the training trip with Pervy Sage. He did his best to block those memories out… But one distinctive memory remained from when he had went into a club in search of the damn perv and a drunk lady with a pair of D-Cups came onto him and wouldn't leave him be. Let's just say with what she was wearing… One didn't need a Byakugan to get an idea of what she would look like under the sheets.

That woman kept ignoring his protests and insisting he dance with her (which he didn't even know how to do!) In fact, he kept accidentally stepping on her toes but after every yelp of pain she just giggled at his clumsiness said something about how cute it was and more or less told him she wanted to get him laid… He tried to disengage and run away without doing anything physical to her but she sensed his anxiety and pulled him closer to her. Hell, she smashed those D's into A's against him and it drove him insane. Thank God she was so drunk that she eventually passed out in his arms so he could just leave her in some random chair.

This, was thankfully nothing like that… But this was the first person to pull him into an embrace like this since then, and Ino was far from ugly. Like this he could easily smell her perfume without even turning around, and she too had her assets pressed against him a little but not in a way that was weird or unusual in a hug like the stranger did. He knew he probably should just relax a little, it was just Ino… She wasn't going to do anything to him; she didn't even feel anything for him like that. If she did, she wouldn't have been trying to get him together with Sakura.

"Inn-no?" He managed.

She laughed softly in his ear, "I'm just thanking you… Geez, what were you thinking? Is the pervert rubbing off on you?" She teased.

He rotated his head to glare at the presence resting on his shoulder, "Don't even!"

She released him and rested her hands on her hips with an amused smirk, "I don't know if I can Naruto… How do I know that you aren't secretly just like him and I just accidentally built up a lot of tension for you to… Deal with later?"

Naruto's face turned red as the strawberries his apartment smelled of, "I'm leaving now…" The embarrassed Uzumaki grunted.

"Byyee," She said as he shut the door.

"Well," She said to herself, "That was fun…"

And it was, his embarrassment was amusing. Even if Ino hadn't known him a long time, she would still find it painfully obvious that he didn't have much experience in the romance department based on the fact she could literally immobilize the poor guy.

Naruto wasn't shy! As a kid, he'd been by far the most annoyingly boisterous of the rookie nine and he wasn't afraid of anyone or anything. This was the guy who asked Sakura out more times than either Ino or Sakura asked Sasuke out. This was the guy who openly called Jiraiya 'Pervy Sage,' Tsunade 'Granny,' and Anko Mitarashi 'Crazy Snake Lady.'

But when it came to some minor physical contact with a girl he was only a little better than Hinata. He even stuttered her name out!

 _At least he didn't faint…_ She chuckled aloud at her mental joke. _If Sakura would've just said yes to him he wouldn't be like that!_

She frowned at the thought of Sakura again. Her best friend's reflection on their past was that Ino's affection for a certain Uchiha was only infatuation? To be fair, Ino no longer knew what to think of her feelings for Sasuke as a young girl. She didn't really know the guy, despite her attempts to get dates and acknowledgment from her crush. But still, to make that comparison and just dismiss hers like that while Sakura continues to cling to the feelings and wish for some fairy tail ending where she and Sasuke had to 'restore the clan,' after the guy betrayed the village for Orochimaru's teachings… Well, let's just say Ino wanted to be mad but felt like the insanity of it was just too much for her to care about the insulting insinuation.

She glanced up at a clock hanging on one of Naruto's walls and realized the other blonde left half an hour ago and all she'd done is sit on the couch and think about Naruto and Sakura. She mentally slapped herself and began watching the programs Naruto had been so kind to allow her to stay for, but allowed one last thought to slip through the crevice of her active brain shutting off to relax.

 _That was pretty sweat of him; it's too bad Forehead's being such an idiot about this. He'd probably cater to her whim without her even asking for anything. I wish someone like that had their eyes set on me…_

Ino got lost while staring at the television, not even realizing she just more or less thought she would enjoy having Naruto's attention.

* * *

 _Four hours later_

"What's the matter?" Teuchi asked, sensing Naruto was a bit troubled, "You're only on your fifth bowl…" He observed, "You've been here over twenty minutes."

Naruto chuckled, "You got me."

Teuchi smirked, "If you need to talk about something, I'm here for ya. Although… There may be some topics Ayame is better suited for given your age," He admitted.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Teuchi shrugged, "I just don't really understand your generation that well… It's the problem with being old I guess. Anyway, if you want to talk about it just holler…" He said and turned around to take care of some dishes.

"Thanks," Naruto called out to the old man for what it was worth, he just didn't feel like sharing his day with either of them so opted not to.

If he told them the things Sakura said that morning, they might hold a bit of a grudge, as Naruto's friends they were slightly protective because they knew the Uzumaki was a very disliked person earlier in his life. He didn't want that, no… Today's encounter was painful but he still wouldn't give up on Sakura. She _did_ care for him, just not in the way he would like. He could work with that; he could build on it and eventually he would make her see that she was wrong about him!

He couldn't help to find it funny that Ino disputed her former rival on the matter completely… Maybe Sakura was just having a hard time separating the 'new,' more mature and older him from the younger kid she knew so well as a teammate. If that was the case, he just needed time… This would all work out, he had to stay positive and no one was better at remaining positive than Naruto Uzumaki.

He left his money on the counter and called out for Teuchi before starting his walk back to the apartment. On his way back, his mind drifted the girl he left behind in his home. _I never got to know her that well_. _Maybe I should do something to change that, she's been really nice and a good friend these couple days._

In the academy, Ino wasn't exactly nice to Naruto. Not that very many people were back then… But her rivalry with Sakura gave her reasons to pick on him since he was always open about the crush. That, and almost everyone picked on him anyways for one reason or another.

As Genin, she came around to tolerating him much more after he showed a lot of improvement during those Chunin exams. But at the time, he'd always dismissed her as Shikamaru and Choji's bossy and _troublesome_ teammate. Plus she had that annoying and common crush for Sasuke… But to be honest he was rooting for her on that front since it would mean Sakura couldn't have him and the pinkette might finally look at him differently.

Even though he considered her a friend, just like the others from the Konoha Eleven, he never thought very much of her or got to know her that well. He couldn't think of a single occasion where they did something together without someone else being around from one of their teams. Until today anyway, yep he really needed to devote some time to her. He just wanted to since she'd been so nice. She stood up to that Mibu Shinobu guy in T&I and even apparently wanted to see him and Sakura get together (which blew up in his face this morning, but still) and he had to admit she'd been fun company.

He idly wondered how long she stuck around his place as he reached the apartment and turned the knob, frowning as he found it unlocked. _Damn it Ino, I told you to lock it on your way out…_ While it was true that his life was far better than when he was younger, there were some civilians that may still be up to vandalizing the place. Some of the more radical ones who liked to blame him for the loss of their loved ones fifteen years ago.

Very few people were so screwed up in the head about the fox that actually took action against him but there were a couple incidents in his life where his apartment had graffiti all over it. The second time the vandals did so _inside_ his home and he'd never forgotten to lock the door since. He honestly had no clue if anyone still hated him enough to do that since he'd gained some prestige within the village since then as a ninja but he'd rather not find out.

Walking in, he was surprised to see a pretty blonde girl sitting on his couch splitting her attention away from the TV to acknowledge him with a wave and a smile, "Welcome home, Naruto.

"Thanks… I guess," He murmured in reply, "I've been gone for more than four hours you know…" He then noticed the phone sitting next to her and raised an eyebrow, "You answered my phone for me?"

"What?" She looked at him oddly, and then remembered she hadn't put it back yet, "Oh—No, I just ordered something a little bit ago, don't worry about it!"

"Ordered? You're still watching the damn shopping net—Oh my God!" He blinked, finally shooting a glance at the TV, "Ino! Really!? In my apartment!"

"Well I can't watch it at home!" She defended herself, "Besides some of these are really cute, even if it's more for the man in the relationship anyway."

On the TV were three beautiful women in their mid twenties modeling lingerie that Naruto just knew would put Pervy Sage in a coma if he were watching. He failed to stop the blood from gushing out of his nose, which stained the carpet and he just knew that would either be really hard to get out later or he would just not do anything about it. His inner-Shikamaru told him it would be too much work for something so insignificant, and he'd dealt with worse housing issues than a rug stain so he'd probably give in to it.

Ino seemed to find this highly amusing for some reason and turned to him deviously, "Which one do you like the most Naruto?"

"Wh-What!?"

"Come on…" She demanded, "You trained with the old pervert! Are you telling me you can't handle looking at three half naked women on TV long enough to make an opinion on fashion?" She teased.

"Of course I can!"

"Then tell me! Which. One."

Naruto blushed, "Why? Are you going to actually buy it or something? That's kind of weird, Ino."

Ino smirked, "Oh? Are you suggesting you would like to see me in one of those?" She asked sticking her thumb at the screen in question.

Naruto gulped, this little arrangement he offered to let her enjoy the channel she supposedly doesn't have any more was seriously biting him in the ass! "No!" He denied, "I don't think things like that about my friends!"

She smiled, "It's okay to be a man Naruto…" She winked. In her head she was laughing her ass off right now, she was having a lot of fun embarrassing him like this for the second time that day.

"But I don't!" He grit his teeth, "And if it'll make you drop this topic… I guess I like the one that looks like it's made of silk the best."

Rather than drop the subject, Ino just made a cat call and smiled as she remarked, "You have good tastes, I hope you're able to get whatever woman you end up with to wear it."

She laughed at him as he sat down next to her on the couch looking ready to die, he was so petrified by this conversation that he looked sunburned, "I'll see you tomorrow, all right? And lighten up! It's just underwear! It's not like you walked in on me trying something like that on so don't be so embarrassed! It's not like you didn't know us girls wear that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, whatever…"

She giggled on her way out, "See ya Naruto, thanks for letting me crash!"

After she shut the door he rushed over to the window and made sure she was really leaving, and once he was satisfied she wasn't up to anything else he sat back down and kicked his shoes off, gazing at the TV.

Maybe this channel didn't suck so much after all?

* * *

Unbeknownst to Naruto, a mischievous Ino was plotting gleefully on her way back to the Yamanaka compound with something hilarious in mind.

 _ **A/N:**_ **Hope everyone liked that, next chapter we'll move onto the next day of them searching for the pervert I would've done that in this chapter a bit but I don't want it getting too long, as I wrote more of this Naruto/Ino stuff than I expected. Til next time :)**


	4. IV

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_** **I was delighted by the response from the reviews last chapter :) I hope yall enjoy this one just as much!**

"I wonder what's taking Ino-Pig…" Sakura stated, trying to sound impatient but really just needing to break the silence.

Naruto and Jiraiya were standing outside the Hokage's tower with her. The perverted sage appeared to be working on something for one of his ahem…novels. Naruto had been uncharacteristically quiet himself however, he'd acted as if everything was normal speaking cheerfully and friendly but only when addressed by one of his companions directly.

She might have just wrote it off as him being distracted by his thoughts, something to do with training perhaps, or maybe news on the Akatsuki or Sasuke. But there was no way he wouldn't share something with her if it were one of the last two, right?

She then figured he hadn't quite shrugged off their conversation from the day before. She _did_ feel bad, for what it was worth. If she could she would take it back and let him down more tactfully than that… The last thing she wanted was to hurt her best 'male friend,' (or best friend not named Ino, whatever term floats your boat) and she didn't do a very good job with the damage control.

In her defense, he was the one who started shouting at her accusing her of having some kind of 'problem' with him and acting disgusted with the idea of going out with him. Which wasn't true, she wasn't _disgusted_ by the idea; she just wasn't willing to do it given their circumstance. That was probably what initially made her a bit nasty when she unfiltered her thoughts

And in all fairness, when she looks back on it, yes she did act in a way that she could understand Naruto interpreting that way. Sakura hadn't even realized that she was being like that! She probably was just reacting instinctively because as a younger girl from the days before they were a team that's how her brain programmed itself to turn him down hundreds of times.

But still, _"You're immature."_ Why did she have to say that to him?

To a point… It was how she felt, but it wasn't fair and she knew it. Naruto was fifteen now, the same age as her (obviously) and he wasn't the same annoying kid that used to dedicate his time trying to one-up Sasuke and get her attention. That said, he still wasn't up to the standards of how she felt someone their age should act, but it wasn't like he was that bad…

All things considered, she wasn't changing her mind. She would _not_ date one of her teammates. But she would definitely need to do something to mend their relationship. She was sure Naruto would bounce back up like usual, and probably be back to asking her out soon enough… But that didn't mean she should do nothing at all about it. She'd been a bit of a bitch yesterday, even if Naruto had been the one to ignite their conversation.

" _I won't date a teammate, period."_

 _"_ _You'd do it for Sasuke."_

The last things each of them had said to one another stung… He really did have a point, but what was she supposed to do? Give him up? When she found out he was leaving the village she was ready to leave with him! And even after everything… Almost three years later she still loved him.

This was why she made it clear that her love for Sasuke was unlike Ino's crush on the Uchiha and Naruto's crush on her. They didn't understand what they were feeling… It wasn't the same! It couldn't be! If Sakura decided to abandon the village and asked Naruto to come with her, he would just stop her. That was the difference.

And Ino's crush? Please… She admitted she was over Sasuke, which makes that one far less complicated.

Was she being a hypocrite by dropping the 'dating teammates is unprofessional' line when she still desired Sasuke? Maybe… But she knew it wasn't the same kind of affection, if only she had a way to make Naruto understand. A way to prove what she somehow knew in her heart…

Jiraiya sighed, "Come on, we're wasting too much time sitting around here. You two can partner up and I'll just—"

"Uh actually," Naruto interrupted surprisingly, "If you don't mind I'd like to be the one to go alone; I could use some time to myself. I've been distracted by my thoughts and would be terrible company anyway," He laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, all right brat… Suit yourself. Since you're going alone, drop by T&I for those results."

"Okay Pervy Sage! I'll see you two in three hours!" And with that he took off.

"Hm… He's acting a little weird, any idea why?"

"No, no clue…" She lied.

* * *

Meanwhile… Sai was surprised when he opened his door to be met by none other than Ino Yamanaka. This was most unusual, as she never came to visit him before.

"Hello beautiful."

Ino smiled brightly, having no clue Sai said that because giving nicknames of what he truly thought about people lead to him getting the shit beat out of him by them, (Sakura) "Hey Sai! I need a favor," She got straight to the point, knowing she was already late for meeting up with the others. It surprisingly took her time to find out where Sai lived, since she couldn't ask Naruto or Sakura (Naruto because she couldn't tell him why she needed the favor, and Sakura because of the things Naruto informed her that Sakura said. She wasn't going to be friendly with her until things blew over)

"I'm afraid I was on my way out…" Sai stated, implying he was too busy for her.

"Oh don't worry!" She assured, "It's not something you would have to do right away; I just need to know if you're good at drawing people?"

"Why?" He asked, surprised by the question, only Sakura ever showed interest in his art before.

"I was hoping you could draw an accurate depiction of my face for something."

"Of course… That's easy; would you have time to pose?"

"Hmm…" She thought it over, "Yeah, I can come by later tonight if you want?"

"That would work fine," Sai agreed, flashing her that ridiculous fake smile of his.

"Perfect, I'll owe you one Sai! I've got to go now, running late!" She told him and departed.

Sai pulled out a notepad and scribbled down something of an observation of her behavior before gathering the things he needed and headed out to take care of his own business for the morning.

Ino hurried to the Hokage's tower, but upon arriving found that Naruto and the others weren't there. _Damn it, they must've started without me._ She sighed in annoyance, knowing she'd have no one to talk to since she would now wander around for three hours 'patrolling' for the pervert, unless she bumped into Naruto or Jiraiya that is. If she saw Sakura she'd just pretend she didn't.

Not that the blonde was one to turn down a confrontation with her rival, but she wasn't really in the mood. Sakura had no idea that Ino even knew about her comments, and so Ino wasn't supposed to have a reason to be annoyed with her at the moment. Not that it would stop Ino anyway… But she wasn't in a rush to do this dance with her rival.

* * *

"Nothing!?" Naruto whined, "Damn it…"

He grabbed the kunai with the picture attached to it and turned to leave T&I, "Thanks anyways…"

Nothing. That is what the kunai and picture gave them! No fingerprints… The pervert obviously wears gloves! No DNA of any kind found, which implied the person had short hair or wore something very restricting to it. No facial hair in all likelihood and I guess he could chalk it up to bad luck that they couldn't find a tiny fragment of skin or something instead.

On the other hand, this description did fit one person Naruto could think of… So maybe it wasn't really a total bust?

He punched the palm of his opposite hand, "Closet pervert!" He realized.

* * *

A couple hours passed, Naruto had been all over the village looking for closet pervert… He now knew over a hundred places he _wasn't_ at.

It was infuriating, he wanted to use shadow clones for it but Tsunade didn't like it when he flooded the streets with himself. Apparently the civilians complained when he did that more than they complain about Kotetsu falling asleep at the gate everyday and still getting to keep the assignment.

In order to protect himself from the Fifth's wrath, he stuck to a small squad of shadow clones and spread out. Each of them just dispelled giving him a nice neat collection of memories that were completely useless!

He was starting to get pissed, and was about to try looking for Konohamaru instead but a not entirely unwelcome sensation stopped him cold as a couple gentle arms wrapped around him and a chin rested itself on his should not unlike yesterday. He tensed up like an enemy Genin trapped behind enemy lines. _She's wearing a different perfume today…_ Was his first thought when he relaxed knowing who it was.

"In-no?"

"Wow you got it in one try… Should I be worried about you getting familiar with me Naruto?" She laughed softly in his ear seductively.

God damn, she was doing this shit on purpose he knew that but why!

"No! Of course not! What are you doing?" He said in a rushed voice.

Ino released him, having had her fun and kept her voice low so she wouldn't embarrass him, "Relax, I was just thinking after yesterday you could use some contact. No offense but you're _way_ too easy to fluster through touch," She explained.

She was right of course. Naruto had grown up without affectionate contact throughout his life and then the closest things he had to it then became those nightmarish memories of drunk ladies in places Jiraiya was hanging out during the training trip. Boy he had a few horror stories he could share…

"I don't think you can do anything about it other than get used to it…" She went on, "So I figured I'd do the same thing I did yesterday. I don't think you got _as_ tense as last time… But that's probably because you realized it was me right away and I already did it once."

"Oh… Thanks but you really don't have to do that."

"I won't if you say so… But you really should consider just letting me; it'll help you get used to girls. You don't want to be easy prey; some girls will walk all over you if they have too much power over you that way. Not everyone's a saint you know…"

"I'll… Think about it, I guess," Naruto replied kind of awkwardly. At least she was showing she cared right?

"Uh…" Naruto then had another thought, "Don't you think doing that to me in public will start a rumor chain of us getting together?"

"Probably," She shrugged.

"And you don't care?" He raised an eyebrow, "That doesn't bother you at all!?" He deadpanned.

Ino snorted, "I could do worse… I wish there was a chain of rumors about us! It would be such an improvement…"

Naruto had been blushing slightly from the start because of the way she chose to greet him but now it was like someone grabbed a wet raw steak and rubbed it against his cheek draping it in cow blood as she continued, "Do you know how many rumors there are about me and Shikamaru or Choji!?"

Ino was just venting at this point, "Don't get me wrong… I love those guys! As friends and teammates and hell practically family but romantically? Absolutely not!" She pouted.

Naruto laughed, "I don't know Ino… I can honestly picture you and Shika pretty easily…"

Her glare erased all humor he saw in it, "Oh no you don't! Not you too!" She exclaimed exasperated, "There is nothing, never has been or ever will be something between me and Shika! He's the laziest human being on Earth and could never fulfill that role with me."

"Yeah he's lazy but he's really smart and cares about you, right? So why not?"

"I require lots of attention Naruto…" She insisted, "Being my boyfriend would be too much of a drag for him."

"You have obviously thought about this before," Naruto smirked.

"…Shut up."

Naruto laughed triumphantly and she admitted defeat, "I never said he wasn't worthy of consideration! I just would never actually go through with that."

"What about Choji then? It's because he's—" Naruto stopped and looked around to make sure Choji wasn't actually there to overhear him.

"Yes," Ino admitted, knowing what he was going to say. She always felt bad about that being the reason why she dismissed her second best male friend all the time when it came to this. It wasn't nice to say, and she'd never utter it aloud when speaking of Choji but… 'This ride has a weight limit.'

"That's really unfair," Naruto commented sounding upset about it.

"Don't judge me!"

"I'm not judging you…" Naruto put his hands up defensively, "We all have our own tastes!"

She relaxed upon seeing she misinterpreted his tone, he must've just felt bad for Choji that he had a particular attribute that would work like a deflector when it came to the ladies most of the time, "And yours happens to be pink hair…" She teased.

"Mm yeah pink is a very nice hair color…" Naruto agreed, "Blondes are pretty hot too."

Hearing that stopped her in her tracks and they turned to stare at each other, and then both laughed their ass off. For a moment, Ino thought he was trying to flirt with her but it then hit her that they were both blonde.

"Careful Naruto I could start taking what you say _wrong,"_ She warned in that mocking manipulative voice that the Uzumaki was coming to expect occasionally at this point.

This time he was ready for it, no awkward stuttering like Hinata or melting like an ice cube! "You're the one who should be careful! You actually said _'I wish there was a chain of rumors about us! It would be such an improvement…'_ " He recited word for word.

Ino found herself fighting back a blush, she hated doing that. Ino was not one to blush often, but he'd turned the tables on her so perfectly and she _did_ say that. It was really annoying when a guy got that reaction out of her. It was supposed to be the other way around!

Naruto grinned at winning two arguments with her now since she found him. He was on fire, seriously… Besting _Ino_ in arguments? As Shika would say… Troublesome.

"How exactly should I take a comment like that Ino?" He teased just to rub it in that he beat her again.

The Yamanaka huffed in fake annoyance and said nothing, but he knew she wasn't really mad because she was smiling slightly. She'd get him back…

* * *

"You think it's 'closet pervert?' Who in the hell is closet pervert?" Jiraiya wondered.

"Uh… What's his name Sakura?" Naruto laughed scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ebisu, Konohamaru's sensei," Sakura explained for Jiraiya and Ino's sake.

"Yeah! Ebisu! I'm betting it was him, he doesn't want people to know he's a pervert like Pervy Sage so he's trying to be discreet and he's turning out to be difficult to catch because he's a Jonin and stealth is one of his strengths!"

"What did he do to earn a nickname like that…?" Ino asked.

"He's just like Pervy Sage and Kakashi! He just pretends he isn't!"

 _Why does this village have so many people with screwed up testosterone levels…_ Ino sighed inwardly.

"Hmm… Ebisu huh.." Jiraiya considered, "That day the pervert got away from me in the crowd I thought he was much shorter than him. We'll check him out anyway though; tomorrow I want you to find him Naruto."

"Sure thing," Naruto agreed smiling brightly, "I'll find out where he's supposed to be tomorrow by talking to Konohamaru today so I don't waste time looking for him again."

"All right," Jiraiya yawned, "Time to get drunk with Tsunade and hope she passes out first so I can grope her again."

Ino and Naruto stared at him deadpanned and Sakura alarmed.

"I said that out loud again didn't I?"

"Yeah…" Naruto muttered as an infuriated Sakura took a slow step toward the Sannin with highly dangerous clenched fists.

* * *

Ino stepped back into the dining area and started towards her and Naruto's table. After Jiraiya's stupid comment, he received a horrifying beating from Sakura who then blacked out and both were now in the hospital. It wasn't the first time Jiraiya make Sakura mad enough to black out after doing many terrifying things to him, so Ino and Naruto weren't really worried. She'd be fine, and the perv would be healed by Tsunade before Sakura woke up and told the Kage what he said. If Tsunade ever finds out, there would likely be one less Sannin in the world, but what can ya do?

Deciding they were hungry they decided to go out for lunch which brings us to right now, as Ino just returned from the restroom to find Naruto whispering something to the waitress as Ino returned to her seat. The Yamanaka raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Ok so may I take your orders now?" The kind waitress offered.

Naruto went first, surprisingly not ordering ramen but pork teriyaki. Ino ordered a salad, and the waitress headed to the kitchen.

"A salad?" Naruto deadpanned, "How very Sakura of you."

"Well you like Sakura so…" She replied cheekily.

Naruto was turning out to not be bad at this game however, "So you're trying to get my attention? Should've just asked me for it, no need to starve yourself!" He smirked. Both blondes erupted with laughter, that was now the third time tallied in Naruto's head that he beat her today in these teasing arguments and he was loving it.

"This figure doesn't maintain itself Naruto."

"I think I've heard this lecture a few times," He replied with a fake yawn, implying he and Sakura have already been over this.

"Then listen to your better half!" She rolled her eyes, indicating Sakura not herself.

The waitress returned with their drinks and Naruto laughed to himself before sipping his. He'd been having a lot of fun… Yesterday he'd been down and out because of his fight with Sakura and hadn't really been able to enjoy Ino's presence that much. Plus most of the time she'd been in his apartment, he had been out training instead and then Ichiraku's.

He hadn't been in a good mood early this morning.

He chose to work solo to avoid being alone with Sakura before he was ready to return to his pursuit of her affection… The T&I results turned out useless, he had a hell of a time looking for damn Ebisu. He just kept getting more and more frustrated and then the beautiful blonde sitting across from him showed up and the day turned around completely.

Ever since she found him, they'd been joking and teasing with one another and quickly becoming more and more comfortable with saying whatever they could think of. The line they couldn't cross was becoming more distant and they were becoming rapidly closer. It was strange to think that just a three days ago they were dragged into the bizarre situation with Jiraiya and the unknown pervert and how much time they'd spent together over a few days compared to before. Naruto found himself wishing he'd talked to her more before his training trip, they probably would've became good friends a long time ago.

Ino meanwhile had plenty of thoughts of her own as well. She was a playful, flirtatious type by nature. It's just who she was. She was supremely confident in her looks and body, and was one of the least shy women in the Konoha! (Damn that Anko)

Everything she'd been doing, every suggestive gesture or comment was just playing around like she would do with other friends that she felt comfortable doing so with (excluding certain personality types that are no fun to use it on —cough— Shikamaru) That's all there was to it, and it was all in good fun…

But it was fun that often came with a cost. She'd lost many friends who turned out to be idiots that didn't understand that it was never _serious_ or tried to touch her somewhere they were not permitted to do so. Idiots who soon had a kunai pressed against the back of their necks. Damn civilians, they don't know how to handle interacting with a kunoichi. Problem was, none of the shinobi she knew around her age were the right material for these sorts of 'games.'

At least… Until Naruto returned from his training trip that is. She just didn't know it until now.

Naruto was the only (male) ninja her age that was good enough at this for it to be fun. She never would've guessed it but once he got a little more comfortable with her and started playing in retaliation he proved to be good competition.

But beyond that, and beyond the fun she'd been having he was also the same caring Naruto she recalled from when they were rookies. This was the same guy that put everything on the line to beat Neji for Hinata whom he didn't even know really. The same guy who would march into the Hidden Stone all by himself and combat the entire village if they had Sasuke in custody and was told Konoha wouldn't commit to a rescue mission.

…The same guy Sakura kept screwing over.

"N-NNaruto? A-And Ino?"

Ino glanced up from her tea to see a fellow busty rookie nine kunoichi, "Hinata! How's it going?" Naruto greeted.

"Would you like to join us?" Ino quickly added, knowing what this must look like to the girl who had a crush on Naruto since she can remember.

"N-No I can't impose!" she panicked as Naruto pulled the chair next to him out for her.

"What? It's no big…" Hinata hurried an apology and rushed out of the restaurant, "…Deal…" Naruto sweatdropped, "She's still so weird," He shook his head at her antics.

Ino giggled knowingly but before Naruto could pry the waitress returned with their meals which put a smirk on his face instead, "Hey! All I ordered was a salad!" She shouted at the retreating waitress who ignored her completely and scampered into the kitchen.

"Can you believe that!? The nerve…"

But rather than take his companion's side Naruto was too busy laughing and she had a feeling he had something to do with this, "When you were coming back from the restroom I told her if you ask for a salad to just give you whatever I ordered and that I'd pay extra if they did."

 _So that's what he was whispering about!_ "NARUTO!" She shouted angrily.

"Come on… When do we ever eat together? Have an actual meal! There's nothing healthy about eating just salads by the way!"

She sighed, of course… That's why they didn't care about her order. When Naruto thought he was doing something good for his friends he couldn't be lead astray from it, "There's nothing healthy about eating ramen all the time!" She countered.

"I didn't order ramen!" He pointed out.

She huffed as if it were irrelevant, "For what? The first time this week?"

"Oi, I _do_ eat other things."

She took a bite of the teriyaki and had to admit… it was really good. She took another and licked her lips and Naruto just shook his head, "You haven't had this in awhile have you?"

"Nope…"

"Is it good?"

"Yes," She stuck her tongue out at him for annoying her with the _'I told you so,'_ voice.

Naruto refocused his attention on his own meal but couldn't help but notice something about him and Ino. They were both having a lot of fun… But it was so weird to feel so much closer to someone after spending a lot of time with them for just a few days after being much more distant acquaintances. Something about him and Ino seemed different than before… But what? And why did the turn in their friendship feel so much different than any other he'd had with anyone in the past?

"You know," Ino spoke up, looking Naruto in the eye, "We never talked much about your trip. What was it like?" She prompted.

 _Maybe it's nothing,_ He shrugged off and answered her, "It was great, Pervy Sage may be a weird guy but he's a good shinobi. He taught me a lot of things and I'm much stronger and smarter than when I left; but that's all pretty obvious. To be honest there's not much interesting to tell about it, unless you want to hear some of the horror stories of Pervy Sage and his activities."

"Do I even want to know?" She chuckled, taking another bite from her teriyaki.

Naruto sighed overdramatically, "Where to start…"

Ino waited patiently (for once) for his story as he thought about some of the more comical scenarios Pervy Sage and (at times) he had been in over those two and a half years, "Ooh, I know," He stated, recalling something he used to foil many of Jiraiya's opportunities with women.

 ** _Flashback_**

 _The brunette giggled at Jiraiya's joke, swatting his arm playfully while the perv sat there grinning pitifully._

 _These were tumultuous times for Naruto during his training trip. They left the village eight months ago; he couldn't deny his progress… But he despised when Jiraiya brought him into town to 'rest' and forgot he was even there in his efforts to get into someone's pants. And for fuck's sake it got really pathetic at times._

 _This was one of those more pathetic times, as he was actually being pretty successful in his attempt for once. While one would think that makes it less pathetic instead, it really came down to HOW he got her so interested in the first place._

 _You see, Jiraiya actually got this woman to cling to him like hot butter on a stovetop because he convinced her that he's an accomplished writer of 'novels.' He —vaguely—described his works leaving out the obvious details that made them so popular (to men at least) in the first place. He emphasized his glorious romantic 'plots,' somehow managing to not allure to the face there was smut in every single chapter. It was masterful, honestly._

 _Anyway, this woman apparently was a sucker for a strong burly man with the heart to be able to write a bestselling romantic book. The fact he's also a shinobi and war veteran only boosted his attractiveness to her._

 _Naruto found this whole thing ridiculous… The man was actually getting a woman because he wrote porn._

 _But she didn't know it was porn… And that's when Naruto decided to do something about it._

 _"_ _Pervy Sage, I'll be right back."_

 _"_ _Huh? Oh you're still here… I forgot."_

 _Naruto ignored his mentor's shortcoming on the obvious and walked across the street into a shop, pulling out his wallet and heading straight towards the books, looking for a little orange one in particular._

 _'_ _Ah, here we go! This will turn her off completely! Believe it!' He picked the Icha Icha up, paid for it and returned to the restaurant he left Pervy Sage and the woman in._

 _When he got back, his eye twitched as the two of them were profusely making out. Tongue and all, in public… fucking gross!_

 _"_ _Ahem…"_

 _"_ _What do you want brat? We're KIND of busy!" A flustered Jiraiya snapped at him for rudely interrupting._

 _"_ _Sorry but I thought she might want to actually READ some of your 'romantic works."_

 _Needless to say Jiraiya paled at the sight of one of his books, but the brunette didn't notice, "Oh my God! How sweet of you, I'd love to read it!" She exclaimed._

 _Naruto just grinned at the dead expression on Pervy Sage's face._

 ** _End Flashback_**

Ino was laughing so hard she barely managed to swallow her drink, "You actually did that!?"

"Believe it! And after that, he wasn't allowed to use his status as a writer to get women without finding a way to make me accept a bribe of sorts!"

"That's awesome!"

"He used to get really mad at me for it at times," Naruto laughed scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"I bet; what other things did you do to him?"

"Well I've got plenty of other stories… But I'm almost done eating and I have to find Konohamaru after this remember?"

"Oh right; you're telling me more of those!" She told him matter-of-factly, "And I'm going to make fun of Pervy Sage tomorrow for this just for kicks."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Pervy Sage?" He smiled, liking it when other people adopted his name for the man.

"He deserves that title as much as his Sannin one…"

Naruto let out an amused grunt as he swallowed the last of his teriyaki and grabbed his drink ready to down it, "Good point," He agreed and guzzled the soda.

Ino hurriedly rushed through the rest of the food on her plate as Naruto pulled his wallet out, "I should probably get to the flower shop… I'm going to be late for my shift as it is but I'm going to excuse it and pretend we just got done with our patrol."

"Okay, I'll see ya tomorrow then," Naruto smiled and left enough money on the table to cover both of their meals.

Ino blinked, "What are you doing? It's not like this is a date you don't have to pay for me!"

"I know," He shrugged, "But I'm the one who made you eat something more expensive than what you ordered… So I'm paying for it; it's only fair."

 _How sweet,_ "Oh all right… Thanks."

"Any time, see ya tomorrow!"

She waved as he departed from the restaurant first and finished off her tea before getting up to do the same. As she walked out, she shot a smile at the waitress that had served them up despite being angry with her before she knew the screw up had been Naruto's meddling and started towards the flower shop in a very good mood.

As she analyzed her day she realized all of it had centered around Naruto. The prank she was preparing that required she enlist Sai's drawing ability… The entire time she spent patrolling for the unknown pervert by herself she'd been hoping she'd run into Naruto or Jiraiya for company but mostly Naruto. Then after they were done she went with him to eat, and when she thought about it… She'd been chatting with him about whatever they felt like talking about (as well as playing around with some of their conversations) for hours.

She then realized that she really liked hanging out with him, a lot. It was a shame they hadn't really done so before bumping into one another the other day. She liked a lot of things about him, and still couldn't understand what Sakura's problem was. _I get closer and I feel more and more like Sakura's nuts to be passing on him._ She mused, and then something hit her.

The way she phrased that thought…

Was Ino getting interested in Naruto?

She hadn't really thought about it before, she'd always been expecting him and Sakura to get together and hit it off and before they knew it permanently take one another off the market. (Yes, she could easily picture them getting married after a year or two of dating) Everything made sense for that to happen; Sakura had _every_ reason to give him a chance and let things run their natural course leading up to that.

And yet, Sakura didn't and claimed she wouldn't.

 _But Naruto is still obsessed with her so what's the point? He wouldn't take interest in me…_ She dismissed, reminding herself that even if Sakura wasn't letting him advance, Naruto was like Shikamaru with Shogi when it came to getting his girl.

If life were chess, Sakura was like the king and Naruto was the knight… If he coordinated his moves properly he would snare her. But like wasn't chess, and unlike the king, Sakura could just keep saying no whereas if you capture the king in that stupid game it was over.

 _I'm being foolish,_ She berated. _If he shows any sign of coming onto me I'll go for it… Until then it'd be stupid._ After all, Naruto never gave up on anything else so why would he give up his several years long pursuit of Sakura?

However, this was there first time Ino actually found herself wishing he would put a stop that chase…

 ** _A/N:_** **Hopefully I made Sakura seem more IC with the part dedicated to her thoughts, I haven't been entirely satisfied of my depiction of her in this story. I mean, I wanted her to come off harsh yes… But it didn't feel like I had the right balance of that and her true character. The beginning of this chapter will hopefully mold that into a better depiction.**

 **Believe it or not… There is a tiny hint as to who the pervert is but you have to squint to see it, lolz.**

 **Ino/Naruto starting to get closer to one another without really trying… And one of them has realized they have feelings for the other 0.0 But how long will it take for the other to come around?**

 **I'm extremely inexperienced with writing pairings so I hope none of this seems too fast or anything. I don't think it is… But w/e I should remind yall I don't expect this story to get that long in the grand scheme of things, though I'm not yet sure how many chapters it'll have.**

 **Let's estimate… less than 15? Wish I could come up with something a little more concrete lol. And yes, they will get together BEFORE the last couple chapters. I personally like it better when I read stories where the couple are actually together for a portion of the story.**

 **'** **Til next time**


	5. V

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_** **Yo people**

 **A few of you made guesses at who the perv is which I'm finding amusing by all means, not gonna admit if anyone was right or not, cause what would the fun in that be? ;)**

 **Anyway, I'm baack with another for ya, hope yall enjoy… I'm lovin' the fav/follows/reviews on this! Thanks everyone!**

 **Enjoy**

"I beg your pardon!?" Ebisu shouted with veins sticking out of his forehead so thick you could see them through the head rag he always wore.

"You heard me! I'm giving you one chance to come clean!"

"I've committed no such crimes you impudent little—"

"YEAH RIGHT, CLOSET PERVERT! Who else in Konoha is so good at stealth and has such a massive craving for watching the ladies to go to all this trouble of not being caught by the shinobi hunting him _and_ is able to out maneuver Pervy Sage specifically!?" Naruto demanded, sticking a thumb towards Jiraiya who was in his company this time on their latest hunt for the guy who was quickly establishing himself as 'Konoha's Most Wanted Deviant,' which actually seemed to annoy Jiraiya and for some reason unknown to Naruto, Ino seemed to have a lot of jokes that he didn't completely get that were directed towards Jiraiya because of that. Maybe he was missing a conversation the two had when they'd been paired up or something…

"Hmpt! I am not a pervert! And if anyone should be interrogated for some dirty accusations it _would_ be Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya for his part decided to let Naruto do all the work since it was him who'd been so damned convinced in the pervert being Ebisu anyways and just stood there working on his uh… novel, "If it was me I wouldn't be dumb enough to stay in Konoha for at least five years…" He murmured in a bored tone, "At this point Tsunade's so annoyed with the complaints from the civilians that I would get publically castrated had it turned out to be me so you can put that assumption to rest."

Completely ignoring Jiraiya's defense of himself Naruto continued to fire at will verbally at Ebisu, "Okay holdup; you ARE a pervert so stop denying that! It's been three years and I'm not going to magically change my mind on that judgment! And it makes perfect sense that it would be you because you're a stealth SPECIALIST! You're a pervert! Believe it!"

"Hey… The boss has a point!"

" _KONOHAMARU?_ What is wrong with you!"

The Genin shrugged, "What? I'm just saying the boss has a case here… It adds up at least!"

Ebisu's face burned of red and he pointed a dejected finger at the only present member of his Genin team, "How dare you even entertain the thought!" He adjusted his glasses and seemed regain his composure a little before adding, "Besides, it's well documented that Konohamaru goes along with whatever this buffoon says," provoking a glare from the Uzumaki.

The usual smirk worked it's way back onto Ebisu's face fast enough, "You see, Konohamaru would march right into the Hyuga compound and piss right in the middle of a meeting between the clan elders in front of everyone if Naruto asked him to! Gaining his support in this argument is completely meaningless!"

"Oi, I would not!" Konohamaru refuted with a face that was as red as a tomato, "You should have more confidence in your student Ebisu-sensei!"

"…Just call him closet-pervert."

"Okay boss!"

"SEE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!?" Ebisu roared.

Konohamaru whistled innocently, "This isn't the same, sensei… I already know you're a pervert! I don't need Naruto to tell me that."

"Wh-What do you mean!?" The incredulous Jonin sputtered as Naruto began laughing his ass off.

"You know that orange book you like to read while we have to catch that stupid cat?" Ebisu paled, "The one that's supposedly 'highly advanced Jonin strategisms and theories?" Part of Ebisu died, "Well it fell out of your pocket one day and I picked it up…"

"Oh I—can easily explain that! Atamoreappropraitetime."

Naruto just stared at the imbecile deadpanned, "Just admit it… the longer this drags out the more pissed off and merciless granny's gonna be when you're caught!" He warned.

"By the way Konohamaru… Strategisms isn't a word…"

"Oops thanks boss," the young Sarutobi scratched the back of his head sheepishly having been exposed to reciting Ebisu's pitiful cover up incorrectly.

"I will listen to this no longer! I am not a pervert! And I am not the guy everyone's complaining about! Shadow me all day long for the rest of the week Uzumaki and you'll see! Or don't, I don't really care either way!" The snobby Jonin left agitated.

"Wait! Closet pervert! There's one more thing!"

Ebisu ignored him and kept walking.

"Closet pervert!"

Still ignoring him.

Naruto sighed, "Ebisu!"

Surprised at the Uzumaki using his real name for once, the Jonin instructor stopped and turned around just in time to see… "Sexy jutsu!"

"Aaa…Aaau… GAUGH!" Was all that came out of Ebisu's mouth in rather pathetic fashion as his sunglasses dropped to the ground and a very unhealthy amount of blood sprayed all of the place before he collapsed.

"Oh yeah! Nice one boss!"

"God damn! He bled so much that we could donate this…" Fem-Naruto stated in genuine awe, he must've really outdone himself this time, which surprised him since he hadn't performed Sexy Jutsu in a long time. (aside from that time when he just made it back into the village)

Aaaand that's when he realized his own sensei was not only drooling but fucking leering at him so he dispelled the transformation and shuddered as Jiraiya snapped out of the lascivious trance and cleared his throat as if that didn't happen.

"Pervy Sage… I'm going home now…"

"No you're not! You can tough this awkwardness out we meet with Sakura and Ino in ten minutes and then you go off and do whatever the hell you want. And believe me… I want a drink."

"Big shock there…" Naruto sweatdropped, "Fine I'll 'tough it out.'"

"You're only listening to me so you can take your platinum blonde girlfriend with you back to your place huh?"

"Eh what!? Why in the hell would you think—"

"Give me a break Naruto… You think I wouldn't notice you've been spending time with her and not Sakura?"

Naruto snorted, "Considering you don't actually spend that much time with me since we got back from our trip… You wouldn't really know what you're talking about. We haven't spent _that_ much time together."

"Yeah sure whatever you say…" Jiraiya retorted as the two made their way towards the Hokage tower to meet with the girls leaving Konohamaru behind with a sensei who would (probably) be waking up soon.

* * *

"Is something wrong, Ino?" A certain pinkette asked sounding genuinely concerned for her best friend.

Ino hadn't been like herself this morning, very quiet and withdrawn like she didn't want to be there the entire time they were on patrol. Sakura had been expecting to have a fun morning catching up with the blonde Chunin; the two of them hadn't been paired up with one another for their hunting of the pervert yet. The first day Ino had paired with Jiraiya… The second it had been Sakura with Jiraiya and the third Ino hadn't shown up but apparently ran into Naruto who'd been patrolling by himself later on.

"Does this have something to do with why you were late yesterday…?

"No," Ino said simply, "I'm fine Sakura, thanks for caring enough to ask."

"Wow, this must be serious you didn't call me 'Forehead-girl," Sakura gasped.

Ino couldn't help it, she had to chuckle at that, "No really, I'm good… I have no story to tell sorry!" Dodging the point seemed like the best course of action for Ino at this point. There was no reason to have a confrontation with Sakura about the state of her relationship with Naruto and the fight (that Ino wasn't supposed to know about) when they would be meeting up with Naruto and Jiraiya momentarily outside the tower and then she could find an excuse to ditch the pinkette and her questions.

Sakura mockingly snorted at her rival, "That's a first."

"Well they _do_ say there's a first time for everything; maybe you'll finally get a boyfriend!" _Shit, I just told myself there wasn't a reason to have a confrontation!_

Sakura averted her gaze hesitantly, "Yeah… About that."

Ino raised an eyebrow and pretended to be confused but was inwardly rolling her eyes, _Ohhh you're finally gonna decide to bring up what you did to Naruto and how bad you feel about it and expect me to tell you it's okay huh?_

"You know Naruto's still interested in me, after all this time?"

 _All this time?_ Ino deadpanned in her head, _no longer than you've still had it for Sasuke…_ "Yeah," She pretended to misinterpret the signals bouncing off the pinkette as she beamed at her friend, "When and where are you going?" She feigned girly excitement.

Sakura's face crinkled up, " _W-What?_ I didn't say yes Ino-pig!" She refuted angrily. _I just did it again…_ Sakura realized. _I acted disgusted at the suggestion of Naruto and I—Oh my God… Naruto… I'm sorry!_ She truly wasn't trying to be such a bitch! Damn it!

Appearing bored now, "Oh…" Ino responded, as if she didn't already know that.

After mentally berated herself, Sakura softened up, "Anyway, I said some harsh stuff that I didn't fully mean and I'm trying to come up with a way to make it up to him."

Ino shot a look at her friend that seemed to be surprise. _How wonderful, I'm so unfair to Naruto that my best friend is shocked I plan on doing something to make amends with him. How long have I been like this?_ "I don't want it to just be ramen… I want to do something special but I can't think of anything."

"He's your teammate; you know him better than I do."

"Thanks for stating the obvious 'Pig…"

"Your quite welcome," She smiled cheerfully, realizing their banter was flowing naturally as if Ino wasn't the least bit upset with her friend. _Well at least she can see that she treated Naruto like shit… And maybe I've been right all along and they really are going to get together!_ Ino frowned when Sakura wasn't paying attention, _But do I want them to get together?_

She would slap herself right there if it wasn't in front of Sakura and in public. How dare she think something like that? If she likes Naruto (Which she apparently did) she should want him to get together with Sakura! That's what _he's_ wanted for YEARS.

Yet, she couldn't get herself to accept that now. It wasn't fair that right when she became interested Forehead finally came around and ended whatever chance she had… After turning him down over and over and over for a looonnng time!

 _Relax…_ She demanded of herself, _Nothing is happening yet… Just calm down._ She brushed the banes out of her sight and the two kunoichi made their way to the Hokage tower that was now in sight. Jiraiya and Naruto were already there, apparently arguing about something. As they closed in reaching earshot, "Pervy Sage! We're here!" She announced, smirking widely gaining the Sannin's silent ire interrupting the males' argument as Naruto busted up laughing.

Jiraiya first glared at Ino, then turned to Naruto to take it out on him, "This is your fault!" But all that did was ignite more laughter from both blondes.

"It's not funny! I haven't served this village for _decades_ to have a bunch of snot nosed Genin brats call me that!"

Ino deadpanned, "A couple days ago you admitted that you _want_ to be taken less seriously and have the reputation of a pervert to cause underestimation of your ability!"

"Yes but I still want to be a _respected_ pervert!"

"No such thing exists Pervy Sage," Naruto argued, and Sakura nodded in agreement.

"If you want respect, act like a real ninja and stop leering at the first skirt you come across _every_ morning!"

"Interest in females is completely healthy!"

Ino shared a look with Naruto and they nodded together reciting, "Pervy Sage."

Jiraiya rubbed his temples, deciding he wanted to get the hell away from these damn kids, "Report," Ino tried to start but he held a hand up to cut her off, "Sakura?" And Ino scoffed.

"There was a disturbance in residential sector three… But the trail on him went cold real fast. We never had a chance," Sakura revealed.

"How long ago?"

"Less than an hour ago, why?"

"Well, I think that rules out Ebisu then…" Jiraiya said in a calculating voice.

"I don't believe it!" Naruto gasped, eye twitching, "How many screwed up stealthy perverts do we have in this village!"

"Well according to Pervy Sage any Chunin should be able to watch women get dressed without getting caught…" Ino informed him, "So who knows?"

"Thanks for sharing that Ino… I don't think I'll change clothes ever again," Sakura muttered.

Ino made a disgusted face, "Ew, that's gross… Screw that I'd climb on top of the roof and scream 'enjoy the show' before I stooped to that!" A grin began to spread across Jiraiya's face…

"Unless you're in the village!" She amended and Sakura laughed heartily.

Aaand Jiraiya hung his head in defeat. Naruto meanwhile was thankful she'd noticed Pervy Sage's antics and missed the moment he needed to wipe some blood away. She no doubt would've had some playful comments in response to that… And he didn't want to play those games in front of Sakura and give her the wrong idea. Just as he thought he was in the clear and relieved she shot a glance at him and winked. Oh shit, she _had_ noticed. Well at least Sakura was oblivious to both these things.

Jiraiya let out a dramatic, prolonged sigh as if he was acting out the role of disappointed Icha Icha character that didn't get the girl in one of his rare 'suspenseful' chapters, "I'm going to ask Tsunade for a list of every ninja she considers elite in stealth."

"You know…" Sakura spoke up, "It's really weird that this pervert is seen every single day but we can never catch him and no one ever gives us a useful description."

The point hit home with Ino, "You would think that someone capable of giving us the slip all this time would be able to go one lousy day without being noticed."

"That is weird…" Naruto followed up, "There must be a reason why the guys' getting caught. But what could that be?" He wondered aloud.

"Maybe he's taking pictures?" Jiraiya considered, "He _did_ throw one at me attached to a kunai, remember?"

"Then why in the hell don't any of the reports mention the perv was taking photos?"

"Beats me," Jiraiya shrugged, "Just spit balling…"

Naruto sighed, "We're not going to figure anything else out right now… See you all tomorrow?"

Jiraiya glanced at the time and hummed in agreement with his godson. Ino waved goodbye and watched her fellow blonde's retreating form for a moment before catching herself and turning away before Sakura realized her newfound interest. Jiraiya bid them farewell too, entering the tower presumably to speak with Tsunade and God knows what else.

"I thought you said you were going to do something to make it up to him?" Ino prodded.

"I will but I said I wanted to come up with something special and right now I don't know what…" She shrugged, "I'm thinking about going to the bathhouse to relax and brainstorm a bit, coming?"

"Hmm.." Ino pretended to consider, and clicked her tongue in a sound that reflected disappointment upon 'remembering' something, "Sorry Forehead, I don't have a shift today but I am supposed to train with one of my cousins… If I blow it off I won't hear the end of it from mom!" She added and rolled her eyes the most diva way she could manage to Sakura's amusement just for good measure.

Chuckling, "Oh well good luck with that! I'll see you tomorrow!" And the two kunoichi went separate ways.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Ino stopped cold in her tracks after turning the first corner and counted to fifteen in her head before turning around and heading after the direction Naruto went.

Once she'd just about caught up to him, she saw the Uzumaki glancing at something through the window of a restaurant before taking off in a full sprint. Ino gasped, _Did he just use the window to see if someone was following him and decide to ditch me? WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM— She_ jumped to conclusion and took off in pursuit.

* * *

 _Damn it, damn it, damn it! I'm going to be late!_ Naruto cursed his luck, the girls had been slightly late at meeting them at the tower and that was causing his own tardiness now. _Almost there…_ He realized, putting the 'jets' on and rushing into the training ground he'd been told to attend.

The person he was meeting only acknowledged him with a slight nod, but then gazed behind him. Confused, Naruto turned his head around to see Ino standing there awkwardly with a hand placed on her hip. _Shit…_ She realized her mistake, _maybe when I saw him stop to look in the restaurant… it was to see a clock…_

"Uh… Hey Ino… Why were you following me without saying anything?"

"Uh…" She stalled, _someone tell that Hyuga to stop staring at me!_ "I wasn't! But when I almost caught up with you, you started running!"

"Oh… I was gonna be late."

"Not to be rude," Neji coughed, "But if there's not a reason for… Whatever this is," He settled on to describe the nature of their conversation, "I don't have all day Naruto."

Ino glared at him for dismissing her as an annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, you got some Hyuga dance thing to attend to," Naruto replied.

"Wait," Ino paled, " _That_ ball isn't today right?"

Neji nodded to Naruto, "Our entire clan's attendance is required, though I do not wish to go."

"SHIT!" She screeched, "I forgot it was today! I was thinking it was in a couple more days!"

"What's the big deal?" Naruto queried, an eyebrow raised, "I get why Neji has to go… But what about you? The Yamanaka clan is being forced to go too? Man, sometimes I'm actually glad I don't have to deal with being a member of a clan."

"Hyuga, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Nara, Sarutobi… Amongst others," Neji informed.

"Sakura didn't mention it because she's never went before since she's also not from a clan… I don't believe this! At least I have a dress," She blanched.

"Well what's the problem then? If Neji agreed to a spar at this time then there must be enough time for you to change and get ready…"

"I don't have a date, idiot!" Ino turned hostile on her fellow blonde who sweatdropped, "I can't enjoy a dance without a date! Of course… I'll wind up asking, no— Forcing Shikamaru to dance with me since he's my teammate and will be there anyway. Which by the way I won't enjoy because he'll just bitch about how much of a drag it is!" Neji scoffed at her (from his point of view) senseless little breakdown, this was not what he expected to be dealing with when Naruto asked to meet with him for a little one on one. Next thing you know, she's going to break a nail and cry!

"Then brush it off… How mad are your parents honestly going to get over it?" Naruto suggested, "It's just a stupid party."

"She's a clan heir," Neji deadpanned, "It would be noticed by _everyone_ in attendance," Seeing Naruto's confusion, he elaborated, "This ball is for all of Konoha's large clans to gather and celebrate the founding of the village, essentially. It is an annual and fairly political event but is mostly casual outside of how we're expected to dress up. The Hyuga standards for attire are far more strict than the others," He bitterly added, which Naruto winced at.

"This is just _great_!" Ino seethed.

"Hn, if it makes you feel better… I'm not going to enjoy it either."

Once again, Naruto sweatdropped… "That's not going to make her feel better," And he was right, because all of Ino's energy was now focused on glaring at Neji.

"All right, all right!" Naruto said, breaking up the upcoming verbal spat before it could begin, "Easy solution! Since you're both going anyway… And I'm pretty sure Neji wouldn't bother to ask someone out for an event he seems to hate in the first place… Go together!"

Ino actually stopped to think about that for a second, as it actually made sense, til Neji spoke again anyway, " _Absolutely not_!"

 _Dick!_ "What's so bad about going with me?" She shot at him, voice not losing the slightest bit of confidence, to her credit.

"Why would I want to go with you?" He put bluntly, and both blondes glared at him. Ino for the obvious offense, Naruto because he thought Neji was being rude and felt protective apparently, but before either of them spoke their thoughts, Neji expanded his feelings, "Quite frankly, we're just acquaintances. Acquaintances that happened to meet several years ago."

"You could still be less of a jerk about it!"

"Yeah… Come on Neji… She doesn't deserve that."

"I am not trying to anger you; I just have no feelings for someone I don't even know, and therefore hold no interest in taking you as my 'date.'"

Before Ino retorted, Naruto held a hand up to stop her, "Okay, we kinda forgot Neji's socially inept to some degree; he doesn't realize how harsh he sounds."

"Socially inept?" Neji raised an eyebrow, "Have you met my team?" He smirked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Point taken," Naruto laughed, "But no offense… You're only a little better than Sasuke was when it comes to how you say things to people."

"…You would be 'only a little better than Sasuke' if you underwent the combined torture of Gai-sensei's training and the one-two punch of his and Lee's personalities. Tenten and I have to keep one another sane most of the time…"

Both blondes actually chuckled at that, who would've thought that _Neji_ would be the one to lighten the mood, " _Oh_ , I get it…" Ino stated, "You won't go with me because you secretly love Tenten!" She outright accused, then added "Gotta admire his loyalty, eh Naruto? And they aren't even an actual couple yet!"

 _God damn it Ino… You're gonna piss him off! And I'm the one who's going to fight him! Fuck_ To the Uzumaki's utter amazement, Neji failed to make a snappy response and after giving them a derisive snort he turned around and began to leave, "I believe I have wasted enough time here… Next time you want to train, come alone Naruto! I will be here once again tomorrow." His menacing tone was noted for future reference, next spar with Neji wouldn't be an easy one.

Naruto said nothing, just stared at the retreating figure completely stunned, "I knew it…" Ino gloated, "He's hot for 'Ten."

Deciding to ignore that, Naruto got back to the matter at hand, "Why didn't you try and find a date earlier? You said you were thinking this thing was a couple days away! Shouldn't you… I don't know! Search ahead of time!" He deadpanned.

Ino's face scrunched up in restored anger, " _Maybe_ because I was devoting my time to searching for a pervert, INSTEAD!"

"Oi!" Naruto raised his hands up defensively, "NOT my fault! In fact… You are a big part of what got me dragged into that!"

"Whatever," She pouted, and sat down, leaning up against a stump miserably.

He hated the look on her face. She was still pretty of course; it was a cold day in hell when the Yamanaka heir was unattractive. But she looked depressed by her mistake and the situation it put her in. He was so used to her being the cheerful and confident kunoichi that had been teasing the hell out of him the past few days and usually wore that vibrant smile of hers. It was clear that she _really_ didn't want to go to this without a date, he wondered why it was so important to her but didn't press on it. If she felt like telling him she would, all that mattered right now was she was his friend, and she needed help. He would provide.

Stepping closer to her, he held his hand out to the girl slumped up against the wood, earning a questioning facial expression from his friend, to which he answered, "Well, let's go?" He smiled even though he was nervous about the idea.

"Naruto?" She stated incredulous, "You don't have to…"

"Yes I do," He claimed, stubborn.

She thought about it a little, and finally took his hand, lifting herself off the ground. He blushed at the feeling of her seemingly delicate fingers linking with his own. He almost had to remind himself those fingers had killed many people! "I don't know what to wear," Naruto addressed, honestly… Anything was better than thinking about the awkward role he was throwing himself into. He was also trying to pretend not to notice that she didn't release his hand… Should he pull it away? Leave it be? Gaugh!

"That's okay, I can pick something out for you on the way back to my place," She smiled. Ah, that's better… She doesn't look like somebody died anymore.

"Naruto… Are you sure about this? I know you—"

"It's fine!" He insisted, "I can tell this was important to you for some reason so… I got you! Don't worry about it."

As they walked, Ino refused to release the hand he so kindly offered her. She knew it was just a gesture to help her up as well as offer himself up for the date but… What the hell, she was greedy! She had the guy she liked holding her hand and there was no reason why she would put a stop to it, "You're so considerate…" She winked at him teasingly to fluster him even though she meant it, "Are you going to treat me like you would treat a girlfriend tonight?" She asked, it was legitimate curiosity, though she didn't expect a real answer since she was just embarrassing him.

An almost shy chuckle made its way through his lips as he answered, "Well it could be good practice I guess…"

Ino momentarily deflated but covered her expression up quicker than the Third Raikage could sprint. _That's how he sees me… 'practice.'_ It wasn't really a surprising statement though; Naruto was all in for Sakura, just a little heated about their fight from a few days ago… A few days of socializing and a couple meals along with some jokes weren't going to shift the Uzumaki's mind from Sakura to Ino, that's just not logical.

But then again, love isn't logical… Almost nothing about love follows the laws of what our brains claim makes sense. Love inspires people to defy their mind's life 'presets.' For example, a spouse who hates shopping and would rather not get anything new for a year if avoidable, would (somewhat) happily accompany their significant other to the store once a month even if they looked for anything and everything to complain about in the process. Logic simply does not dictate love…

That said, Naruto and Ino were far from in love. Their so-called first date wasn't exactly going to even count since the Uzumaki was pretty much a glorified fill-in who didn't know that Ino would love to be taken on a date by him. This was comparable to playing a basketball game only for one of your players to sprain his wrist and then bring in the closest person willing to play to take his place only for that person to turn out to be really good and drop twenty points. Except this was a date and Naruto was the sub who just so happened to be the person she really wanted to go with.

Naruto probably held _zero_ romantic feelings for her, or at least that's what Ino would presume. BUT, that can change, and she had every intention of it changing… His charity in offering to go with her would be the fishing rod Ino needed to begin reeling him away from Sakura's clutches… Before Sakura could even realize what she'd held in her hands taking it for granted all along and decided to cling her fingers around _Ino's_ fish.

The Yamanaka had told herself she wouldn't go for him unless he showed a sign of interest… And to keep her hopes down, but now she actually had a date, albeit not on the circumstances she envisioned… So fuck it, she would go all out! It's not like Sakura would be there to distract him; yes, she would have his full attention and she was up to the challenge of changing unsuspecting Naruto's love interest…

* * *

"Howw much lonnger?" A voice whined from outside the bathroom door.

Unbeknownst to him, Ino was done, just smiling in the mirror at her handiwork. _Showtime…_ She declared, adjusting her banes. Outside the bathroom, Naruto was sprawled across her bed in a black suit she'd chosen. After they'd done that, she brought him to her place, doused him in expensive cologne and neatly added an orange flower to the pocket of the suit, partly for show and partly to placate his need for having orange in his attire in some way.

Once he was presentable, she moved onto herself… Which was now two hours ago, and he was bored as hell, why did it take girls _forever_ to get ready? The door creaked open and she began to step out, "Shikamaru's right you really are the most trou—"He cut himself off when he actually _saw_ the goddess playing teenage kunoichi before him.

"…blesome," He finished, well actually he only finished the word… not the sentence, but his mind had more pressing matters to work with here. "Ino… You look… You— Fantastic!"

And boy did she. Her makeup was of the perfect balance, not too little but not overdone… Her hair was the same as always except she managed to put a flower identical to the one on his suit in there, but her hair was hardly something that needed work. She had awesome hair… Her lipstick was bright but was the proper tone as it wasn't so bad that he had to squint to make sure she wasn't bleeding (they were ninja after all, pretty common occurrence) The Uzumaki swore that she somehow found a way to get her makeup to enhance her eyes so that they were _more_ intoxicating that usual. Wait what?

The Yamanaka heiress' dress fit her tightly, putting her tantalizing curves on full display to the world. It was snow white, and according to her was the reason why she made him buy a _black_ suit. According to her, their clothes would mesh together better than any other couple in attendance. At the time he raised an eyebrow at her saying couple but shrugged it off as nothing since they would probably be the only 'couple' that wasn't really a 'couple.' Her dress' wrists were sparkly for whatever reason, and so did the… sash? Or whatever one might call the thing on her waist. When he glanced down at her heels he noted that they matched the pattern as well… white with sparkles on the tips. Her smile however, was the most attractive thing he was staring at right now… It exuberated a level of confidence he'd only known from three beings.

Himself, the bastard Kyuubi, and Lee. Of course… the difference was that he and Ino had a good kind of confidence in common, whereas Lee's was God damn insane and the Kyuubi… Well, his was unprecedented arrogance coupled with a superiority complex that made thirteen year old Neji seem like the kindest and heartfelt kid hoping to do well enough to earn a promotion.

"What's with all the sparkles though?" He couldn't help but blurt.

"Hush! I like sparkles… The only reason why I _never_ wear things like this is because I'm a kunoichi and that's a wonderful way to die," She rolled her eyes.

"You're such a girl…"

"You're damn right I am."

"Seriously though, you look amazing! You didn't even need me… You'll have guys drooling over you the second you walk through the door!" He encouraged.

"Does that mean you're not coming?" She frowned.

"Of course not… I didn't wait all this time—" He paused as he stood from the bed and began straightening out wrinkles, "Which was FOREVER by the way," He emphasized teasingly "to say 'Ok Ino, have fun, I'm going home, please don't be mad at me!'" He deadpanned.

She laughed, "Yes I know it took awhile… Get used to it," She smirked, "Wasn't it worth it?" She spun around for affect, which is how Naruto discovered that the dress had an open back and he almost gaped for a second but caught himself.

 _Get used to it? What does she mean by—Oh, Sakura must be just as bad then…_ He concluded and nodded in agreement with her comeback and smiled at her, "I meant it you look amazing! Say, how about me?" He smirked making a gesture at his own attire, "If I look half as good then I'm in great shape."

"Mm…" She made a thoughtful hum and clicked her tongue as she settled on a reply, "You look okay."

" _Okay!?_ But you're the one who did all this for me!" He protested hotly but the Yamanaka began her approach halfway through his sentence.

Naruto wasn't sure what she was about to do since the two of them had been so bold with one another the past week with their 'games,' though mostly verbal but wasn't the least bit concerned with her closing in. He was also unsurprised by the inviting scent of watermelon emitting off her body; however, he was _very_ surprised by what she did, "You look great Naruto…" She said in a genuine sounding voice but you can never tell with her… Even when she was playing around it seemed very real.

What truly screwed with his head though was when she leaned in to his cheek and gave him a kiss. A slight shiver of something between fear and excitement rushed down his spine in response to the feeling of the tip of her tongue lightly dragging itself across the surface of his cheek. She pulled back and gave him a coy smile, one that was unlike her as she usually radiated confidence through her lips like the smile she'd had a bit ago, "I-Ino!" Was all he could say, instinctively responding as if it were just another game, but deep down he was questioning whether or not it was.

Ino ignored him and pinched his cheek with her thumb and pointer, wiping the residue of her lipstick off to save him future embarrassment and giggled at it just because it had been _her_ lips to do so. Her fingers mingled with his as she tugged at it and guided him out her bedroom door while he was in a daze from her unexpected action, "Come on, we've gotta go."

When it looked like he was going to say something, he didn't… Because she was looking directly in his eyes, and the confident smile he liked so much had returned and he didn't know what the hell to say anyway.

* * *

"Where should we sit?" Naruto whispered.

It was by no means quiet; there was no reason to whisper and Naruto hadn't even meant to. Ino glanced at her date and saw that for once, the Uzumaki looked intimidated, something very foreign to his usual demeanor and image. People were staring at them. Okay… allow me to rephrase that, _guys_ were staring at them.

Just as Naruto had predicted, the males were ready to come drool over her, but what he never bothered to think about was that where she would earn the looks of desire and intrigue, Naruto would receive the looks of jealousy and annoyance simply because he had the honor of being her company. "Ignore them; if they're jealous of you when I don't even know most of them in the first place… They're a bunch of idiots."

"I don't care about them…" Naruto assured, "I'm fine." _Oh? Then why the hell do you look like a blown out candle!?_ Ino was a little concerned, if he was okay with all the looks they were getting then that meant he was probably thinking about the kiss. Was he mad at her? Why did she have to be so stupid… She didn't _have_ to do that, she got greedy… Damn it. She should've taken this slower!

"Naruto? And Ino?"

"Hey! How's it going Choji!" Naruto's cheerfulness returned.

"Great… Awesome…" Choji mumbled, "Are you two…?"

"Yes!" Ino chimed, "I didn't have a date but you know Naruto… He's such a sweetie…"

Naruto for his part flushed with embarrassment, "Ino…"

"Wow… Ino and Naruto…" Choji stood there, a little awestruck by the development that came out of nowhere.

At first, Naruto was about to correct him and explain this was nothing but something held him back. Just as he was going to speak up the memory of the kiss flashed through his mind, why did she do that? Why didn't it seem like she was messing around? Why was _she_ not bothering to correct Choji's perception of this 'date,' and just standing there with a warm smile holding his hand.

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru made his presence known, "At least you don't have any excuse to nag me for a dance this year Ino," He smirked at Naruto, betting the blonde had no clue how to dance, which he didn't and that made Naruto pale since he hadn't thought of that when he offered to come. How in the hell did he overlook _that?_

"Don't test me Shika," She smirked deviously, "I just might ask Naruto if he wants to take a break and drag you onto the floor asking everyone to clear out so the two of us can tango…"

"Oh hell no!" Shikamaru sputtered, spilling part of the drink he was holding.

"Shikamaru knows how to tango?" Naruto asked, unbelieving and Choji just laughed at his pineapple haired friend who was looking quite pale at this point.

"We had to learn it for a mission to amplify the credibility of our cover," Ino explained.

"It's a drag… But yeah I know how," He sighed, "We're not doing that Ino! In fact… I'm never doing that again!"

"If you want to live up to that statement you better behave then Shika," She returned cheekily.

"Troublesome."

For now, no one was dancing. At the moment, members of each of the prominent and respected clans were still filing in along with their dates or other designated special guests and for the most part those who were already there were just sitting at a table conversing with their friends or family and eating as this whole thing was apparently a buffet as well. Needless to say, when Naruto and Ino joined her teammates they found that Choji was working through large slices of ham with three different side dishes and he was sure to be getting more afterwards.

The four (three, since Choji was just stuffing his face) of them conversed for awhile about whatever came to mind. Shikamaru asked about that stupid pervert they still hadn't tracked down and they talked about all the people they'd suspected up until this point. Naruto told the entire story of earlier that morning and his encounter with Closet Pervert and Konohamaru, wanting to drag the conversations out.

Anything to not think about the fact that the sexy Yamanaka sitting closely to his left had kissed him earlier. Yes, it had been on the cheek and that wasn't supposed to mean shit… But it had felt so… affectionate? Naruto's lack of receiving affection over the course of his life made it impossible to understand what he was feeling! He was so damn confused… So he talked. He talked and talked, avoiding the traitorous thoughts that Ino might have a thing for him, avoiding the analysis of their intimate(?) moment.

After fifteen or twenty minutes passed, he'd managed to relax fully. He was about to tell them about what Pervy Sage said about groping Tsunade after passing out and what Sakura did to him for it when…

A confused voice emerged behind them, "N-Naruto?" _Speak of the devil…_

 _Shit!_ Ino panicked in her head, _Why is she here!?_

"Sakura!" He greeted invitingly, praying to God she wouldn't think this meant he gave up on her and decided to go out with Ino now.

The pinkette looked between the two of them suspiciously. Naruto hadn't been as cheerful and nice to her since their fight, things just hadn't completely restored to normal between them. THAT greeting seemed like normal, but he wasn't even supposed to be here… The only reason why he would be there was if he was accompanying someone on a date… like say… a member of the Yamanaka clan wearing an overkill dress that was sitting awfully close to him.

"Forehead? What are you going here!" Ino didn't sound rude at all, nor displeased, simply confused…

 ** _A/N:_** **I honestly didn't plan on this party thing… The idea smacked me across the head when I was trying to decide what Ino was planning to do after following Naruto when he'd been rushing to meet with Neji. So I came up with this and decided to roll with it… Consequently that means Ino became more direct sooner than I originally intended but with this circumstance I don't think it's a stretch at all that her mentality would become more offensive minded.**

 **It also is likely going to bring them together sooner than originally planned, but I ain't certain on that just yet.**

 **For the record, Naruto doesn't have a bunch of romantic feelings for her just yet… He's just very much attracted to her, that's all.**

 **If you thought the dress sounded stupid… eh sue me, people wear weird shit. Besides, I don't think I did a good job describing what I was imagining -.-**

 **Shikamaru knowing how to tango LMAO when I first came up with that bit I was dying… Picturing that lazy fucker having to do a dance of that nature is just hilarious to me. Way too much work for him…**

 **Anyway… hit me up with a review please… left ya with the cliffhanger not my style usually but I couldn't resist! Pointa out**


	6. VI

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_**

 **Yo! It has been quite some time… I apologize but unfortunately my internet unexpectedly stopped working and I had to change providers because they pissed me the fuck off. Plus it wasn't working well with xbox live anyways, so screw it. Word to the wise, don't get Exede internet!**

 **At any rate, the lack of net caused me to cease writing altogether for awhile, so despite the time it's been, I'm afraid I do not actually have a handful of things to post on the site. I do apologize that even though I've had my net for like a month… I'm JUST NOW updating. *sigh* It's been rough I've had a lot of other shit go on/happen to me too but at least I got something for yall finally! This IS the longest chapter thus far, and one of the funniest IMO so I think yall will definitely enjoy.**

 **On another note, you guys honored me with the response to chapter 5! Seriously, like 10 reviews and a PM convo within 24 hrs I've never had that all on one chapter before within such a quick timeframe on any story. Thanks!**

 **Enjoy everyone!**

The pinkette ignored their greetings, staring at them suspiciously, "What are you doing here Naruto?"

"I… I well, it's a kind of long story," He settled on, not liking the idea of calling it a date and utterly killing the appearance that he was 'faithful' to her by giving her the impression his interest was divided.

Ino could read his mind, and no she wasn't talking about that jutsu… Though that was always an option too if she ever did get together with him and he started lying to her and— Okay, getting off track here. Ino knew what was going through his mind, and while it was true that she could take advantage of the circumstance and slap a huge smile on her face and tell her _'we're on a date!'_ She knew that would only make Naruto mad at her or resentful. If Naruto were to ever see _Ino_ as the reason why he couldn't have Sakura, then she was done. Instead, she needed to help him…

"I invited him…" She cut in, "He's never been to this before since he's not from one of the major clans and I thought it would be fun."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "How is that a long story?"

Beads of sweat persisted on the back of Naruto's neck but Ino was on top of this, as she busted up laughing. The laughter sounded completely genuine, but Naruto had a feeling it wasn't, maybe he'd been hanging around her a bit more than he realized if he could tell the difference now after all those 'games.'

"Oh trust me Forehead, that was the short n' sweet version," She responded so innocently. Naruto was silently commending how she was managing to seem so honest in the moment but Sakura wasn't about to let them out of the woods yet.

However, as she opened her mouth to further interrogate, Ino turned the tables on her best friend… "So, answer me! What're you doing here? You didn't tell me you had a date!" As the Yamanaka threw this at Sakura, she felt bad inside… The only way Sakura could be there was if she had been approved of as a 'special guest' by a clan head or was someone's date. That's just how the rules were set up… She couldn't care less about whatever date Sakura landed, not right now… When she knew that it was about to hurt Naruto, but she needed to protect Naruto's interests first and foremost since it was basically Ino's fault he was in this situation. Getting Sakura to talk about her own date would break the little interrogation the pinkette was giving them. As it stood right now, Ino made it sound like a date so he could be there, but that was about it.

Sakura not sensing anything unusual about Ino's behavior let the subject of Naruto drop, and answered her, "It was supposed to be a surprise 'Pig!" She smirked, "I was going to shock you when I asked you to come to the bathhouse with me earlier but you had that training with your cousin…"

 _Oh yeah, I forgot I told her that._ Ino thought, pretending not to notice the strange look Naruto was giving her. "Sooo," Ino faked interest, "Who's the poor guy you blackmailed to take you to this?" She joked with the brightest smile she could muster without looking like a weirdo.

 _Training with her cousin? I've been with her since she followed me to meet with Neji._ Naruto was certain she'd lied to Sakura about something, and he idly wondered why.

"Shut it," Sakura fired back but her own smile didn't disappear and she even blushed a little, "I think you know him…" She revealed coyly.

 _Sakura…_ Naruto moped in his head, _Why doesn't she even seem to care that I'm standing right here knowing how I feel about her?_ It hurt him, Sakura was supposed to be his closest friend… Particularly with Sasuke barely counting as one at the moment as he was rogue. She wasn't even sparing him a glance as she discussed this with Ino… She only addressed him to find out why he was in attendance!

"Well? Spill it! Or I'm going to pretend you're not here and tell Naruto stories about when you were a little kid!" She threatened, drawing a brief look of horror of the embarrassed Sakura.

"Ino!" She chastised, "That's not cool! And I'll find you again later… With him! Like I said it's a surprise!"

"Fine," Ino rolled her eyes. _Feel free to forget all about it!_

"Oh, and Naruto I need to talk to you later too! It's important," She smiled at her teammate and walked off.

"Hm… I wonder who the lucky guy is," Choji spoke up before grabbing another piece of food.

Shikamaru snorted, "Who cares… Trying to guess would be a—"he immediately shut the hell up when he saw the glare he was receiving from the most 'troublesome' girl of his world.

Said troublesome girl looked at Naruto with a less angry expression, "You okay?"

In return she saw Naruto's smile… His _fake_ one that he used to pretend he was emotionally invulnerable without realizing that was what he did, "Of course I am… What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean…"

"Well, isn't this a surprise…" A new voice made itself known, causing all four heads to turn and see Neji and Hinata, "I see you found a solution to your problem," Neji stated, eying Naruto.

 _N-Naruto and Ino? Again? This isn't fair!_ Hinata cried inwardly.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ino snorted, "No thanks to you by the way."

"I don't desire it," Neji smirked, "But for what it's worth, I'm glad you figured something out. For Shikamaru's sake." Ino's eye twitched at the insult but she had to admit, she'd prefer Neji make jokes of the like than to walk around like an emotionless dick all the time.

 _When did she find time to swipe his heart away from Sakura? Why couldn't I be brave enough to do something… Find the courage in me to… be like him._ Hinata continued to rant in her head, tuning the world out.

"Cut it out Neji," Shikamaru grunted, "It'll be an absolute nuisance if you get her all riled up over this."

"Ah, but that wouldn't be my problem, now would it?"

 _And he looks sooo g-good in that suit!_ Hinata continued to mentally weep.

"I'll make it your problem!" Ino smirked.

"Interesting, how do you plan to do that?"

"Do you wanna find out?"

"Neji…" Shikamaru shook his head 'no,' and Choji took a break from stuffing his face to mimic his teammate.

"I suppose not," Neji finally conceded, figuring it was more of a headache than it could possibly be worth, "Did I mention how I despise this event?"

"I'm pretty sure you made that clear earlier…" Ino deadpanned.

"I feel the urge to refresh your memory…" The Hyuga muttered, his mood dipping back into the bitterness that came up any time a clan related function required something of him.

Shikamaru meanwhile was tuning out the conversation as Neji and Ino began discussing the negatives of the ball… Well, actually it was more like Neji venting a little to someone that would actually listen to him on the subject, as all the other Hyuga seemed to look forward to this event, Hinata included.

Instead, Shika was entertaining—well, not entertaining, but at least addressing some thoughts of what seemed to be revolving around Naruto at the moment. _Okay… He's on a date with Ino… Hinata is obviously not bursting into tears or passing out right now out of sheer willpower of not wanting to look weak in front of him… And he's jealous of Sakura's mystery date… Who would've thought Naruto would be caught up in a love triangle?_ Actually, Hinata made it four people, so it was more like a love square, which sounded retarded and the Nara had to wonder if that was an actual term or not.

"I'm going to hit the restroom real quick… be right back," A falsely cheerful Naruto excused himself, Ino gave him a reassuring smile that seemed to convey _'It's okay, I'm here.'_ If her eyes could speak.

Ino was not the only one who knew something was up; Neji and Shikamaru were well aware too. _If he desires a moment alone, he's entitled… It's not my business or place to say anything._ Neji decided.

 _What a pain, I guess I should talk to him while I have an opportunity… "_ I think I'll go help him find the men's room…" He said in a bored tone that got Choji to stop eating and gaze at him, he had Ino's attention as well, "What?" He feigned ignorance, "It'll be a drag later if I need to use it and have a hard time locating it."

"You've been to this ball how many times now?" Neji pointed out, and while he sounded like a dick… It was actually his way of helping the Nara. _Don't use that excuse anymore, or someone you don't want to notice something, will see through you._

"Maybe I'm just forgetful when it comes to unimportant events like this one…" Shikamaru drawled out but gave Neji a slight nod of understanding and went after Naruto.

 _If only I-I were a g-guy I could have been the one to go hh-help Naruto…_ Hinata continued to struggle in silence, wishing she could do something for him and support him. _B-But if I were a guy, Naruto would never want to be with me so I guess this is better._ Hinata then realized exactly what her mind was just thinking, how ridiculous it was and suddenly felt like becoming an underage drinker. She did keep her composure however, though she was more on the stoic side like that of her cousin at the moment.

Speaking of cousins…

Ino's eyes almost bulged out of her head as Sakura returned with her presumed date, a man a couple years older than them with long blonde hair in a ravishing brown tux.

"Hey Ino…" The man whose arm was intertwined with Sakura's greeted awkwardly.

"Hey 'cuz…" She said, trying to act like her eye wasn't twitching. She was staring at Sakura and her cousin, Inuki. Inuki and Sakura. What the fuck.

"I told you that you'd be surprised!" Sakura smiled, waving a finger at her best friend.

A million things were racing through Ino's head. _I am SO glad I didn't state the name of which cousin I lied about having to train with…_

 _You could be with Naruto… Who worships you… All you would have to do is pull him aside and say 'I love you, would you like to dance' and my chances would be decimated! And you're going on a date with my perverted moron cousin?_

 _Inuki's been reading Icha Icha since I can remember… and shares it with young Yamanaka's. Of all my cousins… Why him?_

"Isn't this great?" Ino smiled, _Yeah right._

Inuki seemed to relax after Ino said that, undoubtedly worried about Ino exposing his habits during his downtime in the Yamanaka compound. He and Ino had never been particularly close… And when he found out the same Sakura he'd been flirting with was the one Ino was best friends with he nearly chose not to ask her to the ball. For the moment, it would seem Ino was putting family first and not her friend, which he appreciated.

"We've been spending a lot of time together in the hospital lately… I've been doing nightshifts because of the pervert situation," Sakura explained.

Ino nodded, understanding what she meant. Inuki was also a medic ninja, and always took nightshifts which were important since most people hated to do them. This resulted in him being pretty popular with medical staff members; anyone who did nightshift almost every day voluntarily was a hero to them.

"Sakura mentioned that she didn't get to tell you about me when she wanted to because you had to train with one of our cousins… I was kind of wondering who it was since I didn't see you when I passed by the training grounds with my teammates around that same time I think," Inuki asked curiously.

Ino wanted to smack him for asking that. She wasn't angry with him, in fact his question wasn't at all out to get her… He was actually wondering if she got clan technique training, since that wouldn't be done in the open at public training grounds. But God damn him, he was making her lie even more!

"Inada; just some weapons training nothing big. We didn't want to have to take a shower and everything afterwards with this event going on… So our training session became light and more on the social side."

"Ah, that makes sense," Inuki appeared satisfied.

Neji however now realized Ino never partook in any training at all, _She was too busy ruining mine…_ He inwardly scoffed. _Which apparently has something to do with Naruto…_ He added, it was weird how it was starting to seem like she had a thing for the Uzumaki. Not that he cared, but he was taking note of it anyway.

Outside the men's room, a figure was lazily leaning against the wall as the door opened and a certain Naruto Uzumaki emerged, "We need to talk…" Shikamaru cut to the chase.

Naruto blinked, he hadn't expected anyone to follow him over here to speak with him privately, and certainly not the Nara of all people, "Sure, what about…?"

"What's going on with you and Ino?"

The seriousness in Shikamaru's tone at first surprised Naruto, but it was clear that his old friend was simply protective of Ino. Not only was it his teammate, a _female_ teammate, but also a lifelong family friend and whether he ever admitted it aloud or not… without question his best friend not named Choji. If anyone could appreciate and respect someone being protective for such reasons… It was Naruto.

"Wh-Uh… Well, to be honest… You know what? You know her better than I do, maybe you can help me understand what the hell is going on! She's got me completely lost!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, he was expecting a much more simple answer than that, damn it. He would've been placated with a simple 'It's nothing serious, I promise I won't hurt her… You know me' or a 'we've decided to give it a shot at becoming a couple.' But no… It's never that easy. Not in Shikamaru's cursed life of complications…

He sighed and rested his hands in his pockets… "Start explain—" Shika's reply cut off and he heard a voice in his head.

' _Shika, I need you to do something for me.'_ Ino's serious voice rang in his head clearly.

"Hold up… Ino's talking to me…" He told Naruto, sounding like he was being given a damn chore, and ya know… he kind of was.

 _'_ _A favor? It'll cost you Ino…'_

 _'_ _Whatever, what do you want?'_

 _'_ _No tango, period.'_

 _'_ _Aww…'_

"What are you guy's talking about? What's she saying?" Naruto prodded, annoyed he couldn't hear.

 _'_ _Take it or leave it Ino…'_

 _'_ _Fine, you have a deal. You gonna help me or what?'_

 _'_ _Troublesome as it is, the price is right…'_ He joked, _'What do I need to do?'_

 _'_ _Remember my cousin Inada? Find her and tell her that she still owes me a big favor and all she has to do is claim to have spent two hours training with me today if anyone asks her about it.'_

 _'_ _That's all? No use of jutsu or annoying dramatics?'_

 _'_ _Yup… I'm severely overcompensating with you on this one. You with Naruto?'_

 _'_ _Yeah…'_

 _'_ _Tell him Sakura's date is one of my cousins… And ask him if he would like to avoid them for now. If he wants I can slip away from here.'_

"Naruto, I have to do something for Ino… But first she wants me to tell you that Sakura's date is one of her cousins, and asks if you want to stay away from them? She'll ditch them and find you I guess…" He told the Uzumaki, and then muttered something about being turned into Ino's private postal service.

Naruto blinked oddly at the message, "Y-Yeah, we can do that… I don't really feel like talking with Sakura and her _boyfriend_ right now anyway," He agreed, looking frustrated.

The Nara simply nodded and walked away, presumably passing along his answer to Ino in his head and going off to run whatever errand the Yamanaka asked of her teammate, leaving the Uzumaki to himself once more.

Naruto passed by the tables occupied mostly by Akimichi's and Nara's before eventually passing through some Sarutobi's, lost in thought. _Sakura… What the hell? One of Ino's cousins?_ Naruto couldn't even recall the name of any of Ino's family other than Inoichi. _Sakura's hung out with Ino since we were all academy students, she probably knows a lot of them._ He figured.

 _But since when was there anyone our age from their clan that she was actually close to from that clan other than Ino?!_ Why didn't she ever mention the guy to him before in a casual conversation? Just his mere existence was news to Naruto. _Because… Telling me when she knows how I feel would just put me in a bad mood, and we could end up fighting._ He admitted to himself.

The Uzumaki wasn't even aware of his surroundings at the moment, he was engulfed in thoughts, none particularly positive or constructive. This time… He truly did not know what to feel. Anger? Regret? Sorrow? He couldn't decide, so he settled on being lost.

Well, lost until…

"Boss!" A panicked voice yelped.

Uzumaki stopped in his tracks and found himself flanked by none other than Konohamaru, "Hey," Naruto tried to smile. He hadn't even thought of the fact his younger rival would have to attend this event.

"You need to lay low boss! What are you even doing here!?"

"Gee, glad to see you too… Why would I be hiding?"

"Ebisu-sensei's gonna freak and start a huge scene if he runs into you!"

Naruto sighed dramatically, "Closet pervert's here? Why? He isn't in a clan either…"

"Uncle Asuma approved him as a special guest, why are you here?"

"I… Was invited by someone," He left it at.

Konohamaru shook his head, not interested enough in the moment to press on it, "Well get away from this area of the diner before he see's you! He'll mostly be sitting with the Sarutobi's; I'm not sure where he went but he could come back at any time!"

"Fine, I'll go… since when were you afraid of making a scene!? You've challenged me to sexy jutsu showdowns in the middle of public on multiple occasions!" Naruto deadpanned.

"If we did that _here_ we'd be laughing stocks!"

Naruto's eye twitched, "Doing that anywhere is a bad idea if you actually care what people think of you."

"Oh yeah!? Well you've dedicated your life to making other people think good of you!" Konohamaru argued.

"I dedicate my life to earning their respect and acknowledgement… Other than that, they can think whatever the hell they want," Naruto returned and walked away.

"I'm sorry boss! Don't be mad at me!" He heard the Sarutobi shout at his retreating form.

Konohamaru watched Naruto go and felt bad for some reason. _The boss is not in a good mood… I wonder what's up?_

Feeling a bit parched, he went searching for something to drink. He grabbed a paper cup and dunked it in the punch bowl, but when he proceeded to raise it up for a sip he felt someone forcefully yank it from his fingers, "What the hell?" He demanded the taller shinobi standing beside him.

She didn't answer at first, drinking his entire cup in one go. Finishing it, the cup was lowered revealing a feminine face he was (unfortunately) acquainted with, and the woman handed him the empty cup. "Crazy Snake Lady!? That was _my_ drink." Okay so he felt like stating the obvious, so what? He wasn't exactly having a good day here!

"Well _your drink_ was alcoholic!" She smirked down at him with a creepy look in her eyes.

"It was?" Naruto muttered, "Wh-I didn't know… Why isn't there a warning label or something!" He massaged his temple.

Anko shrugged, "Beats me, I don't really care… I want all the drinks to be alcoholic!"

"Right…" Naruto replied, not sure what to say. Well, actually he wanted to say something along the lines of 'You and Pervy Sage should get together and drink 'til you forget who either of you are and wake up in bed,' but he had a terrible feeling that he would surely go 'missing' soon after.

"Wait a minute, why are you here?" Anko asked.

Naruto sighed, this was a trending question today… "Date," He submitted, figuring with Anko it really didn't matter, she wasn't going to be interested or talk to any of his friends.

Not waiting to see if she _did_ have more to ask, he shot her a question of his own, "What about you? You're not a member of a clan either."

"I'm the Hokage's esteemed drinking buddy! Er I mean… honorable guest."

"Ah… So granny's here too then, didn't know that."

"First time in attendance then eh? Me too," Anko admitted.

"I guess I'm gonna go look for _non_ -alcoholic drinks now, have fun… uh… getting smashed."

"Thank you…" Anko smiled brightly, "I will!"

Naruto shook his head in mild amusement as he moved on once again. That interaction was sadly the most fun he'd had thus far. Not thirty seconds later was he thinking of Sakura again.

His mind drifted back to that miserable argument from the other day.

 _'_ _I won't date a teammate, period.'_

 _'_ _You'd do it for Sasuke.'_

It was so damning to his morale… Did this new boyfriend of hers mean her claims would uphold? Was his chance truly as dead as she would have him believe? He didn't want to accept the possibility his window was closed for good… He'd waited so long! Was it ever open to him in the first place? For such a long period it was closed to all but Sasuke… That never changed until some point while he was training outside the village with Jiraiya. Now he returns and this is the situation he finds himself?

Locked outside, trying to see through the window by squinting his eyes to bypass the tint? Alone…

Alone like his so-called childhood, years of painful time spent in the ninja academy and pretty much everything he'd been awake for prior to the formation of Team Seven. One would think he'd be used to it by now, accepting even perhaps. Actually, he was used to it… He was just sick of it; he never accepted it in the first place, even if it was his sad reality.

"There he is!" A familiar voice made a declaration, and Naruto didn't need to turn around to see the smirk of his friend.

"Kiba," He whirled around to speak, noting Ino was in his company right away. She smiled at him but said nothing, giving Kiba the floor so to speak.

"How's it going _little Genin_?"

"Everything's great! Been training like crazy… You probably can't even keep up anymore since Neji has a rough time even though he's a Jonin."

"Bah, times have changed since the Chunin exams you know? We'll need to one versus one sometime."

Naruto chuckled, "Bring it on! I'll take ya both out! You and Akamaru versus me myself and I!" He generated two shadow clones for dramatic effect and all three of them shot their friend/rival a peace sign.

Kiba snorted, "Overdramatic clown…" and the shadow clones dispelled, "Anytime Naruto; but I'll see you later, if I don't get back to my table Hana's gonna bitch me out."

"Thank you Kiba…" Ino made sure to say as he left, he made a wave of his hand in acknowledgement but said nothing, "I asked him to put that nose of his to use in order to find where you'd wandered off to."

"Smart," He sort of complemented, not knowing what to say really.

Not at all deterred by his less than happy demeanor (his false happiness disintegrated once Kiba walked away) "Let's find a vacant table! Come on…" She insisted, linking an arm with his and leading him where she remembered seeing one.

 _Huh, he didn't bother to try and hide his pain from me this time… That must mean I'm getting closer to him, he's comfortable with me truly seeing him. That or he's given up on hiding it from me because I keep calling him out on the reflexive acting._ Ino pondered.

Naruto gulped as he went along with his hot friend. His mind had been so focused on this new development with Sakura that his mind had momentary reprieve from the confusing little puzzle he called Ino Yamanaka and how she'd been acting towards him today. The mere contact of their arms was a reminder to him that she'd kissed him just before they showed up to this thing. Yeah it was on the cheek… but still… What the hell!

Naruto followed as the platinum blonde lead him to a small round table with only two chairs off in a corner of the diner. She clearly was looking to obtain a little privacy, as the only table remotely close to its occupants pretty much blocked off the view of the blondes once they sat down. If someone went looking for either of them it would be easy to pass by without even realizing it.

"This should do nicely…" Ino smiled, "Got you all to myself," She pointed out offhandedly and lightly stroked his arm from across the table for no apparent reason.

Her playful action tensed Naruto up for the sheer reason he'd been off guard; this didn't even register next to some of the other things she'd done to tease him. Hell he'd seen her hand coming all along, yet it played his nerves like a violin this time anyway! Was she just doing more games to break his nervousness? He'd been less effected the last couple times he was unexpectedly hugged or touched in some way but now she was stiffening his muscles up like he'd never interacted with a girl in his life!

His breathing pattern and heart rate changed but quickly settled back down once he reminded himself it was just Ino. This was the same girl who spontaneously gave him a peck on the cheek earlier in the day that probably didn't mean anything at all. _Wait, is it a peck if you can feel the tip of her tongue drag-_ _Not right now!_ He mentally slapped himself.

Ino for her part was just watching him, trying to predict what he was thinking so she could try to use it to her advantage. Looked like her stupid body language studies for a possible T&I career down the road were proving to be of use again; she easily determined that she'd successfully managed to get in his head. Naruto didn't know what he thought of her, how seriously to take her and thankfully was not mad at her over the kiss, but certainly confused. The unknown was intimidating her friend, but that was okay… She'd just make her intentions more decipherable. He was mad at Sakura; that was a given based on the circumstances and the knowledge Ino possessed. This was a good situation for her… And she knew she could make the best of this little date.

"So…" Naruto forced himself to start a conversation to free his mind of the pressure he was putting it through, "Aren't you supposed to do something political and stuff because you're an heiress?"

"All that's required of me is that I attend it start to finish; oh and I have to dance because that's the clans' way of making it known that each heir was there."

"But I thought all clan members have to be here… Like Neji was complaining about."

Ino nodded, "They do; but only heirs are required to dance. It's not like they take attendance or something. It's the clan head's responsibility to internally punish members who skip out on it that aren't excused because of a mission or guard duty."

"So if a clan heir shows up and doesn't dance?" Naruto wondered aloud.

Ino's eyes narrowed, "Naruto… Are you trying to get out of this?" She asked in a terrifying voice that made Naruto's skin crawl.

"No!" He put his hands up innocently, "I'm just wondering about stuff! That's all!"

"Good," She answered sweetly, "You'd better not be. I expect a good time here… And I already promised Shika I wouldn't make him tango so I already lost my fallback option," She half-joked.

"To answer your question… I have no idea," She admitted thoughtfully, "The only clan heir I've known of that refused to dance was…" She choked up, "…Sasuke." She mentally crossed her fingers that Naruto wouldn't be depressed by the mention of his old friend.

Naruto let out an amused grunt, that was Sasuke for you. It didn't bode well for his mood to be reminded of his rogue teammate and lost friend, but he couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of the village forcing Sasuke to dance, "Let me guess, the village felt sorry for him and didn't do anything about it?"

Ino nodded, "As far as I know… Yeah."

"That figures, he always had small forms of special treatment…" Naruto commented as his eyes drifted off to a few of the first couples to start dancing upon hearing the first music notes flowing through the room.

He idly wondered when she planned to drag him out there, and how badly he was going to embarrass himself in front of many people he knew. _At least granny and Crazy Snake Lady will be drunk and might not remember. Everyone else on the other hand…_ Naruto could practically hear the hypothetical gulp.

"Receive any packages lately?" She prompted out of the blue.

"Packages?" Naruto questioned as if the question were in a foreign language, "No, why? I haven't received anything through the mail in like five years… And I was only gone for three!" He reminded with a dramatic gesture of his hands.

Ino giggled at Naruto's antics but there was more to it than that. _So it hasn't arrived yet; I guess I should've already known that. I bet he'll barely be able to speak to me the first time we talk after he gets it!_ Ino had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing _too_ hard, there was no reason to tip Naruto off that she was up to something.

"Why are you asking?" Naruto persisted, slightly lifted up at the prospect of expecting something. Hey, he didn't exactly receive a lot of things in his childhood and even after. Nothing was ever handed to Naruto.

"Remember when you let me crash at your place and watch TV while you were out?"

Naruto nodded affirmatively, "Yeah and I got back and you were watching…" He paused and blushed, "Yeah."

"Geez, so shy!" Ino grinned and grabbed his arm playfully, "You're so afraid of displaying attraction!"

"Wh-What? N-No I'm not! I've asked out Sakura hundreds of times so no one can _ever_ say I'm afraid of showing affection! Believe it!"

Ino looked him in the eyes challengingly, "I didn't say that; I said you're afraid of showing _attraction_ ," her hand softly made its way down his arm to his hand, "Affection and attraction are different things, stupid."

Had she not just called him stupid, albeit in a teasing voice, Naruto would be so turned on right now he would not be able to construct a proper retort. The soft touch of her playful caressing hand toyed with his mind. He would try to make sense of her actions; why was he special? What was it that made her want to play with him this way so openly even when someone could see them? Why was she a dozen times more interested in interacting with him than a week ago? Why this, why that; he couldn't answer a single question because the blonde ecstasy across the table kept giving him a brain freeze.

"What does any of this have to do with what you asked in the first place!"

Ino merely smiled in return, hoping he would ease up. Seriously, why was he getting all stressed out? She was just trying to show him she liked him! That's supposed to make guys feel good damn it, "Ohh nothing… It's just, I ordered something under your address cause I don't want it sent to the Yamanaka compound. I hope you don't mind."

"Well I don't mind I guess… But you couldn't tell me before now?"

"It wasn't that important," She shrugged off.

He looked skeptical, "Then why can't it be sent to your place?"

"None of your business!" She replied sassily, "Just… Keep an eye out for a package, and feel free to open it for me."

"Fine…" Naruto agreed, feeling like she was definitely up to something but was afraid to ask for details. Something told him he'd rather not know.

 _That was too easy_ She thought to herself, _I guess this might work after all._ Oh yes, Ino Yamanaka could scheme baby! Originally a prank she was arranging with some assistance from Sai; she intended to use that package to converge on her unsuspecting prey. Though if Ino could help it, he'd be a lot _less_ unsuspecting after tonight was over.

After a few seconds of silence, Naruto was just looking for something to say… His opportunity presented itself when Ino brought her hand up to remove her banes from her eyesight, "Oi don't do that! You trying to blind me?" He joked as the lights bounced off her sparkly wrist.

"Jerk," Ino spat but all failed to show hostility as all Naruto heard was her giggling, "Don't make fun of my dress!"

"Oh come onnn I already told you how awesome you look; I can say whatever I want now!" Naruto smirked.

"Oh is that how it works huh?" Ino raised an eyebrow, "Well you can—you…" Shit, she can't insult his attire because—

"I can what? Do you have any complaints?" Naruto asked gesturing his clothes, "You can stuff them in a suggestion box at the flower shop!"

…because Ino picked out his clothes in the first place.

Ino laughed, "Shut up!" She returned and raised her wrist, jokingly waving it back and forth to make it flash and annoy her fellow blonde some more.

"Aaahh," Naruto faked pain and covered his eyes, then dramatically dropped to the floor and rolled over moaning in a poor excuse for acting.

Ino leaned back in her chair, dying of laughter at his stupid antics but several people that had no idea what was going on were shooting them very strange looks. Great, she was probably going to hear about this tomorrow from her father.

"My eyes! How could you do this to me!"

More strange looks.

Oh well, they were having fun, fuck 'em.

Apparently running out of material, he reclaimed his seat with a goofy smile and rested his hands behind his head. _You may have ran out of lines, but I've just started…_ Ino smirked inwardly, "Geez you suck Naruto, that acting wouldn't fool anyone. You could take part in one of those 'Triple X' videos!"

"Triple wh—Oh…" Naruto's eye twitched.

"You have the body for it too!"

Severely blushing now.

 _One more!_ "You should take it up as a second career! I bet Pervy Sage has a connection of some sort for you to get hooked up! I'd totally watch you! I'll be your number one fan _Naruto!_ " She pushed in a seductive voice and ended with a wink for good measure.

Aaaand Naruto's brain stopped working for about five whole seconds from a process overload.

 _Oh screw it I can't resist this one!_ "Just think of the level of creativity your videos would possess with all those shadow clones… You'll be a star, Naruto!"

"Ino!"

Well… _that_ surely snapped him out of it fast, "Whhaat?" She pouted, "Can't a girl fantasize a little?" She asked oh-so innocently.

"Can't you fantasize on your own time!"

"THIS is my own time," She smirked.

"When you're alone," He deadpanned.

"B-But," She replied in a cute voice, "It gets old! It's way more fun to have a partner."

Naruto paused momentarily because of how damn sexual that sounded but shook it off knowing her well enough by now, "And who the hell goes over to someone's door and says 'hi Ino let's fantasize about guys for awhile! Yeah!" He sarcastically retorted.

"Not like that you dingus," Ino laughed, "It's a little different than what you're thinking of. I'm talking about foreplay you idiot! Try to keep up!"

HOW did she turn this onto the subject of foreplay? "You're not even making sense!" Naruto reprimanded, "That has nothing to do with anything we've said so far!"

"Sure it does… Foreplay is just two people fantasizing and sharing it with one another in the open rather than tucking it away in their head. It's literally the same as when you go to bed and think naughty things about me before falling asleep!"

"I don—"

He was silenced by one of Ino's fingers meeting his lips with a prolonged 'shh.' "It's okay Naruto, I'm not even mad."

"But I nev—"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of and you don't have to keep it a secret, really!"

"Could you sto—"

"Naruto!" Ino snarled, "It's not polite to interrupt your date!" She barked but the smile totally ruined her effort to appear angry.

The Uzumaki was so annoyed he felt compelled to massage his temple but within a couple seconds he was laughing, "There's something wrong with you," He decreed.

The Yamanaka appeared intrigued, "Oh?"

"Normal people don't tell their friends to become a porn star and basically say they want to engage in foreplay with them. Which means you kinda just proposed that we become porn stars together!"

"…Well played," Ino conceded to his point, "So… Who's going to handle the video tape? It needs to be someone we both trust."

Naruto literally fell out of his chair, "What!?"

"You expect me to let a stranger film us?" She answered incredulously, "Kinky, but _no!_ "

"INO!"

"I'm kidding! And here I thought ya knew me by now…" She rolled her eyes, "Of course I don't want someone to film us. What the fuck."

Naruto wisely kept his mouth shut, any retort was just going to add more fuel to the fire. Ino was very good at this sort of thing and this time he seriously wanted it to end! Someone they knew would eventually find them, approach and God knows how that conversation would develop! The problem was, by not saying anything he had to _ignore_ the fact she was insinuating she didn't want to be filmed but was still game for some activities under the sheets.

Once again, for the second time this evening, Naruto mentally slapped himself. _It's Ino! Don't take any of this seriously! None of it!_

But… That kiss. The arm thing, the constant flirtatious— _It's Ino! Right… It's Ino, conventional clues are not meaningful._ There is no way to tell how Ino actually feels about him with her overly playful and bold behavior.

As Naruto underwent a bit of a mental struggle in dealing with his friend's behavior, Ino just sat across from him trying to read into his body language. Eventually, she came to a decision, "Naruto, I'm ready to dance."

 _Oh shit,_ "Oh… Uh yeah, right okay! I know just what to do!" He laughed nervously.

Ino just raised an eyebrow, _You don't sound like you know what to do! Not that I expected someone to randomly give you dance lessons at some point of your life._

Ino could tell he had no clue, that's why he was nervous. So that meant one of two things, either he was trying to play it out like he did know because he was _that_ ashamed, which she doubted since there was no way her fellow blonde found dancing important. Or he was nervous about dancing _with_ her and _embarrassing_ her in front of people. Knowing Naruto, it was likely the latter, it was just so like him to worry that way. Hell, she bet he was more worried about messing something up for her than make a joke of himself in front of the clan heads and his friends!

"Shadow clone jutsu!" He surprised her, surrounding her with four clones. Each clone then performed a different transformation jutsu for fresh appearances.

"Naruto? What the hell I told you you're not getting out of this!"

"I'm not trying to get out of anything!" He held his hands up.

Ino's fists clenched, "Sure looks like it!"

"No, seriously! I just don't know how to dance so I figured I'd save us the embarrassment. Do you really want a bunch of rumors floating around about how: ' _Naruto and Ino are dating now and danced about as coordinated as a pair of drunk pirates'?_ "

 _Interesting simile to go with but…_ "Naruto, who cares! Let 'em talk."

"But this way is better! It'll look like you accepted a few date offers from guys you don't really know and they all sucked."

" _No_ ; I don't want to dance with shadow clones!"

"But Ino…"

"I want to dance with YOU," She crossed her arms and glared.

 _Damn it_ , a once again profusely blushing Naruto thought. _I hate it when those eyes don't look happy._ As if on autopilot, Naruto soon found himself on his feet, arm linked with a hot Yamanaka and smoke of dispelled shadow clones whirling around them.

 _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, this is actually happening now!_

 _Sweeet! I get to go in for the kill soon,_ Ino schemed. What better time to try for something a little bit intimate than during their dance? She just needed to settle him down cause she could tell he was freaking out right now…

 _Oh shit oh shit oh shit!_

 _But that's okay_ , Ino thought; Naruto didn't have experience with any of this stuff so it wasn't his fault! That's why Ino started playing around with him to help break his panic-like reactions to female contact in the first place after all. This is a little different too, it's more stressful since it's a dance and in public but she'd take care of him. He just needed some guidance and everything would work out just fine!

 _Oh shit oh shit what am I going to do? What if I accidentally make us both fall over in inappropriate positions and people think I'm like Pervy Sage! Or- Oh no… What if Pervy Sage is HERE and Ino's dress rips and he sees something I'd like to see! Wait, what?_

She squeezed his hand reassuringly and smiled, leading him to a spot she considered a good place to start, "Ready 'hun?"

"'Hun'?"

"Yes dear?" She replied sweetly.

"…Nevermind," Ino must not have been nervous at all… But he couldn't contemplate that for long; he had bigger fish to try at the moment. Like where the hell to place his hands!?

Naruto cleared his throat, "Uhm… What do I do first?"

"Wellll…" Ino considered a response and barely held her laughter back when she came up with one, "You can start by putting your right hand on my shoulder and your left on my ass!"

Naruto stared her the eyes like a deer and headlights and Ino laughed at him again.

She poked him twice on the chest, "That petrified look on your face is _exactly_ why I've been trying to break your weakness for girls!"

"Oi this isn't funny I'm really getting stressed out by this!"

"So don't let it!" Ino deadpanned, "It's _me_ Naruto, I know you don't have the experience so relax I've got you… Everything will be okay I'm not going to be disappointed or upset or something!"

She grabbed each of his hands, bringing one to her waist and raising the other away from them in the air before placing her free hand on his shoulder, "There we go… Nothin' to it Naruto… Now all we do is stay in sync," She instructed as the two began swaying to the very lethargic rhythm.

The Uzumaki found himself beginning to relax, though he was consciously paying attention to where Ino's toes were. Turns out this was easy after all… And it didn't hurt that he was getting to hold Ino Yamanaka of all girls without being smacked. Not being able to help himself knowing her dress had an open back, he ran his fingers lightly along the skin of her back, it was surprisingly very soft. _How the hell does she apply lotion in some of these spots? Kunoichi flexibility jutsu?_ He best stop there, before his thoughts took a dive down his godfather's path. Actually, part of him felt like a perv for enjoying the action in the first place but then again he _was_ her date wasn't he? So it was okay for him to do this… If it wasn't, she already would've taken a kunai to his testicles.

If Ino disapproved, she most certainly didn't want him to know it. She was smiling and took it upon herself to lean in closer and rest her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as if she were trying to get comfortable enough to take a nap. For awhile neither of them said anything. Ino didn't want to say the wrong thing now that he was more relaxed, so she was playing it safe hoping to leave an impression on him that she was interested through contact instead. What man on this Earth didn't want to hold Ino Yamanaka up against them and look down at her smiling face?

That was literally what Naruto was doing right at that moment. Her eyes were locked up, pretty much shutting the world out around them. The only reason why he knew she was awake at all was she didn't randomly stop moving along. Naruto was comfortable, which shocked part of him; when he got up this morning he was certainly not expecting to wind up on a date with his hottest companion swaying to a slow rhythm like this. Ino was probably the only girl he knew that could manage to get him in this position without scaring the hell out of him. Sure, he was freaked out when they were starting… But now he wasn't even sweating, and his mind was slowing down enough for him to instead _enjoy_ how close he was to the Yamanaka heiress.

She was so beautiful. Funny he hadn't paid it much mind when they were kids, must have something to do with getting older. Ino's body was tantalizing; curvaceous enough to be on the front cover of a magazine with skin smooth enough to be used to for a damn recliner yet barely old enough to get married. And being a kunoichi didn't stop her from being pretty (duh), she was hiding impressive athleticism behind that finely tuned makeup. He felt things, desires he didn't normally grant himself the right to feel. Things he even tried not to think about when looking at Sakura because he was determined to never be like Pervy Sage… It was getting harder to manage it; she was driving him crazy today!

Her attractiveness had already been obvious, but it just seemed like she was making efforts to make him notice it more and more as the day went on and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't ignore it. Sure, maybe this was more of Ino being Ino but today would be taking their 'games' to an extreme if you ask Naruto. There was that kiss earlier… And now she was draped all over him on a date that he ironically offered himself up for making his stomach feel like it was twisting up inside and damn it if he didn't start rejecting his line of thoughts he was going to start coming onto her.

And that was bad; he was certain Ino didn't like him that way. She was a good friend that felt sorry for him and was doing a lot to make him ready for a girlfriend in her own way. He still vividly remembered how blatant she presented her interest to Sasuke, which she had never done (seriously at least) for him. She'd even once or twice took his side to get a date with Sakura, which Ino would never do if she had interest! He couldn't afford to come onto her… He didn't want to ruin this friendship that recently blossomed to a different level and he definitely didn't need a _second_ girl rejecting him. _Get a hold of yourself!_ Naruto demanded in his head and hoped Ino wasn't doing some Yamanaka mind reading bullshit the past few minutes.

 _It's Ino, you need to control yourself._

Ino could sense that he'd relaxed, she had a feeling something was still bothering him and she chalked that up to the fact she did kiss him earlier. She wanted to do that again, this time on the lips… Give him a proper presentation of what exactly she wanted from him. If Sakura really wanted to waste her time with her stupid perverted cousin that was just fine… She'd happily snag the gem her pink haired pal always left between the couch cushions dismissively like a stale pretzel.

Naruto never got what he deserved, ever. He got put on a team with the girl who would never give him the time of day (though in fairness to Sakura she became his friend at least) and the boy that regarded him about as low as you possibly could. Kakashi honestly didn't seem to teach him that much and Jiraiya's attention tilted towards women more than teaching.

Her thoughts were put on hold for a moment to allow an involuntary shiver.

Naruto frowned at her, "Cold?" He questioned, not seeing how that was possible with their shared body heat.

She gave him a smile and reopened the eyes that neither of them had yet even realized how much he loved staring at, "No, not at all… That was nothing thanks for being such a sweetie though."

Naruto blushed once again, damn it, "Ino.."

Even where he had bountiful success, such as the Chunin exams… he was no awarded Chunin status and the damn village got invaded. It was like fate (oh wonderful, now she sounded like Neji) was out to get him _literally_ since birth no matter how good of a person he was or what he did! It was ridiculous! It really bothered her, and now she found herself wanting to _be_ the good thing that finally happened to him.

"Oh come on!" She halted their movement and swung her hands around his neck affectionately, "Showing me your concern like that is so cute!"

He held his breath in anticipation; she purposely put them in a position that had him either expecting a kiss… Or she was trying to hint that _she_ wanted a kiss but he knew she didn't- Ugghh He was so confused and it just kept getting worse!

Their eyes locked, Ino was still smiling, but now it was very playful. _Okay Ino, this is it… Go for it!_ She ordered herself.

"YOU! What are you doing here!" An annoying, scolding voice interrupted.

Both blondes groaned inwardly in dismay, knowing exactly what was coming pretty much. "…Hey Closet Pervert."

"Answer me this instant you buffoon!"

"He's my date if you don't mind!" Ino huffed at the stuck up Jonin, tugging him closer to her.

"What? I don't believe it!? You are the heir of one of Konoha's most prestigious clans! You can do much better than this whelp!" Ebisu exploded; he paused to adjust his glasses and went on before either blonde could tell him where to shove it.

"Now Konohamaru in couple years maybe…"

"Shut the hell up!" Naruto warned as he held Ino back who was ready to castrate the man for the mere idea.

"Let me go, Naruto!"

"No way!"

"Why are you protecting him?" She hissed.

"Because you're going to get yourself in trouble with the clan heads and grandma Tsunade!" He deadpanned as she continued to struggle to unleash herself from his grip.

"Oh you are one to talk about trouble Uzumaki… What you did to me earlier today was unacceptable conduct from a shinobi of this village! You should be ashamed! And YOU miss Yamanaka are disgracing yourself with—"He was cut off by an ANBU appearing out of seemingly nowhere who grabbed a hold of the stealth expert.

"What are you doing!?" He demanded.

"You're stirring up conflict, Lady Hokage has ordered your removal."

"Preposterous! Just inform Lady Hokage what Uzumaki did to me this morning and she—"

"I don't really care," The ANBU interrupted, "I'm following her command..." And just like that, both figures vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto finally let Ino break free and she tried to contain her anger, he meanwhile just shook his head, "Konohamaru warned me that might happen…"

Ino grunted in acknowledgement but did not voice her thought, _What a mood killer._

"Don't let him get to you… He's about as relevant as Ami."

That stirred the Yamanaka heiress out of her fury for a moment to laugh. Ami was a member of their class who failed to make it into the rookie nine. The two of them never got along, both liked Sasuke back then and she was pretty much a secondary rival for Ino where Sakura was on top. Naruto also didn't have any love for her since she made fun of him _all_ the time.

While many of those around them had halted their dancing while Ebisu was going off, some had returned to it and others found their tables. The two of them had yet to move, but Naruto was anxious to get out of there before Sakura and her… boyfriend joined those on the floor. That meant they either needed to wrap it up quickly or stop now.

Fortunately, before he even asked, Ino grabbed his hand and lead him away, "I'm not really in the mood for that now…" She explained, "You did great though!" She assured, "We definitely would've kept going for awhile… Especially since it was just about to get interesting," She added cryptically.

"Why do you say that?" Naruto played dumb.

Ino held back her flirtation comeback once they heard Sakura's voice behind them, "Naruto! Wait up!"

"Sakura," He greeted in a stoic manner that was completely out of character.

 _He must be sore about Inuki,_ Sakura figured, "I wanted to talk to you about something remember!" She tried to be cheerful.

"Now's not a great time Sakura, he's about to take me home…" Ino responded.

"Already?" Sakura rose an eyebrow, "This may be my first time at this ball but I know that's pretty early to be leaving."

"Well I don't feel too well," She shot back sounding irritated, "I want to go lay down! Come on, Naruto."

Sakura sounded very suspicious, "Why does Naruto have to leave?"

"Because he's my date," Ino rolled her eyes, "I'm the only reason why they admitted him. I already danced so I can go now if I choose to, so stop with the interrogating I'm not in the mood!"

"Sorry Sakura! Like she said I don't really have a choice!" Naruto excused himself and scampered off to catch up to the retreating Ino.

"Nice acting," He complemented.

"Thank you," She smirked, "A lot better than your triple X."

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose as they made their way towards the exit, "Here we go again…"

Ino giggled at her companion's attitude as they approached the door, and caught a glimpse of a concerned Shikamaru in the corner of her eye. Now that was a rare sight…

 _Something wrong?_ She inquired telepathically.

The sound of a prolonged sigh answered her. _If I had something to say I would've walked over to you._

 _Just get it out of the way so you don't think about it all night like some kind of stupid puzzle._ Ino retorted.

 _Fine… I just think you shouldn't underestimate how much he likes Sakura. He still has strong feelings for her, and I know you're aware of it… I just don't want him to hurt you; he doesn't even seem to think you like him._

Ino took it to heart that Shika of all people was saying all this, he really did care look at that! _I'll be fine, don't worry… It's a work in progress, but I'm going to win him over, just watch._

 _Troublesome woman_

 ** _A/N:_**

 **There ya have it, R n' R please! I felt damn good about that one just terrible that it took me like four months to update :/ I really hope everyone enjoyed it after such an awful lapse of content output. I'll do my best to get another one out in sept. Til next time**


	7. VII

**Deviance**

 ** _A/N:_** **Happy New Year!... In March… sigh.**

 **Yeah I'm not even going to get into my pathetically long delay, just want to thank you all for being patient, and in some people's cases thank you for being impatient as those update-craving reviews made me smile lol. Hopefully you all enjoy what you've waited for :)**

"You're grinning," The bored Uzumaki broke the silence.

He and Jiraiya paired up for the patrol that morning and had more than an hour left to go with no sign of the pervert's activities. Naruto was beginning to grow very weary of this repetition… He was tired of throwing a few hours each day at what continued to feel like nothing. For all they knew, the pervert was since sent off on a four month mission and they were wandering the village wasting precious time like a bunch of jackasses. Meanwhile Akatsuki was surely building up, Sasuke was getting stronger and lord knows what Orochimaru was doing.

* * *

 _Elsewhere…_

"Bless you."

"Thank you Kabuto…" A reptilian voice responded gracefully as his freakish smile bored into the third person in the room.

"P-PPlease don't d-do this…" The man begged, but his hopes were crushed as the pale creep licked his lips with an insanely long tongue in a repulsive display of his mental illness, did not answer the man, and simply stepped forward chuckling.

Not far away, several forms of wildlife were forced to relocate due to a frantic human scream somewhere underground.

* * *

Jiraiya withheld his answer momentarily because for some reason he had a feeling in his gut something terrible just happened to someone.

Setting aside his paranoia, he responded to his godson, "I know."

Naruto yawned, "You going to explain why?"

Jiraiya giggled pitifully, "You're not old enough."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Since when did you care?"

"Ahem," the sage coughed, "I have never exposed you to anything I felt you weren't ready for Naruto! Just trust me; what I was up to last night is a bit out of your league…"

Instead of pouting, prying for information anyway or dismissing it all together Naruto smirked and took a play out of Ino's playbook instead, "It's okay Pervy Sage… I trust your judgment on this."

Jiraiya blinked, "You do?"

"Well yeah…" Naruto shrugged sheepishly, "I mean, you should know a lot about what's like to have age hold you back from things…"

Jiraiya's glare was ignored, "Especially when it comes to some of those nasty things you write about. It's probably why you write it in the first place," Jiraiya's eyes nearly bulged out of his head that his apprentice actually said that to him, but Naruto wasn't even finished "…because you have a harder time getting it u—"

"Shut up brat!" Yelled an offended Sannin, "I most certainly do not have that probl—I've NEVER had any issues with— You shouldn't even talk like you kn— GRAUGH!" Naruto's blood froze cold for just a moment, he never expected Pervy Sage would get so mad over a stupid joke. Unless… _Oh my God, maybe he really does have that problem._

"Okay okay I'm sorry!" Naruto put his hands up defensively, trying to ignore the piecing glare that made him want to reach for one of his kunai and raise it to his own throat, "What's the matter with you! I can't make a joke now? You're lousy company all the sudden!" He deflected hopefully.

"Us older men don't like hearing the slightest implication of those likes! You couldn't possibly understand, being someone that's never even kissed a girl!"

 _Well, that's kind of low,_ "I'll have you know I _received_ a kiss yesterday…" Naruto retorted in an annoyed tone.

Jiraiya didn't show anything resembling surprise on his face, he simply raised an eyebrow and gave a firm nod, "One of you made a move then, I figured it was coming but I thought it would be a week or two longer. You guys work fast."

"Woah woah, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Naruto deadpanned, "Are you sure you know who I'm talking about and realize that all we did was go on a date?"

"You're talking about Ino," He stated as if it were obvious, "And that's a pity. No worries, just keep doing what you're doing it'll all unravel on its own… Then you get to unravel her," He added in a creepy voice that rivaled a different Sannin.

"Okay, how did you know it was Ino and not… Sakura or someone else!? And _don't_ talk about her like that ever again!"

"Protective now are we? That can be a good quality to an extent, girls like that as long as you don't become overbearing," The Super Pervert hummed, "If it were Sakura…" He backtracked, "I would've been the one asking about why _you_ were grinning."

The Genin wisely kept his mouth shut at that analysis, blushing wildly. It was true, he definitely would've been a social vegetable if he'd received a kiss from Sakura last night. Not that being kissed by Ino (yes even on the cheek) wasn't affecting him, it was just likely a different feeling. Where he longed for Sakura's affection for many years now… He only recently started to notice how attracted he was to Ino. So of course it wasn't the same.

Now, all that considered… It didn't change the fact that Ino was _hot_ … And _kissed_ him the previous day before they went out on a _date_. Sure, it wasn't supposed to be a serious date, (or so he thought when he offered himself up) and Naruto had no other experiences to compare it to… But it certainly felt like a legitimate one. Ino didn't exactly play hard to get either; she was practically encouraging him to treat her like his girlfriend! It was weird, it was unexpected, it was… Fun.

Yes, that was the most fun Naruto's had since his return to Konoha, (not counting the portions of the party he hadn't spent in Ino's company that is) She was able to snap him out of his funk and make him laugh and engage in what was becoming their usual playful banter. It was as if _everything_ could be joke or a tease throughout regular activities that he spent with her. For whatever reason, the two of them just had a natural connection or something that made it incredibly easy to have a good time.

Lately… Hanging out with Ino was unlike anything he'd done with anyone in his entire life. And for the time being, Naruto wasn't sure what to do or how to feel.

Ducking behind the cover of a chimney, a shinobi remaining silent and motionless was mulling over all of what he heard. _Naruto likes Ino now? But he repeatedly said he likes Sakura… Just when I thought I understood?_

Setting aside that little puzzling piece of information, the shinobi decided he should call quits on his early morning activities now that the Hokage's patrollers passed by. It wasn't worth the hassle, besides he could get caught easily if Naruto would make enough shadow clones while in pursuit. The 'pervert' could not allow that, he was not finished with his work… he needed at least two more weeks, possibly more to be complete and he wasn't going to allow the Hokage to put a stop to this after all the time and effort he applied to it.

He wanted to continue while there was still plenty of quality opportunities to get an eyeful but there was always tomorrow. He had to play it safe; he was dealing with Jiraiya and Naruto here after all. Yes… tomorrow, tomorrow will be a more productive day. He'd lasted a week with Jiraiya, Naruto, Sakura and Ino hunting him down and they had thus far failed to even slightly get on track to discovering his true identity. Ino once gave him a scare when he unexpectedly ran into her, but it was apparent that she was oblivious to where he was about to go and what he was about to do. Thankful for that, he could continue to work on his latest project as long as he played things out wisely and patiently.

* * *

"So… Are you going to answer me or what?" Sakura demanded. Ino desperately wanted something to distract her friend from this topic but knew that would be like searching for a four leaf clover in the dessert.

"What is there to tell, Sakura?" Apparently the encounter from the night before between her and Naruto with the pinkette was coming back to viciously bite the platinum blonde in her very nice ass. (Hey, self-confidence is healthy…)

Sakura was full of suspicion now. She felt that Ino and Naruto were up to something; it was as if they were hiding something ever since that day they bumped into Jiraiya and got sucked into this stupid so-called 'mission' she was getting very tired of as it is. Since then, it was like the two of them were sneaking around Sakura… Maybe she was just being paranoid but it just seemed so odd.

First they excused being together as a mere 'oh we bumped into each other' that same day they were dragged into the pervert hunting nonsense. She dismissed it as nothing, just like any other normal and trusting human being would. But then it was like Ino was butting into her business trying to help Naruto get a date with her which Sakura viciously shot down; (and still felt bad about the degree of which she did) then Naruto was mad and surprisingly has been a little bit more distant and suddenly Ino is acting weird too. And let's not forget last night! What the fuck was that…

According to Ino, she and Naruto were on a 'date' so he could attend the ball but why would Naruto even want to go? When has he EVER cared for such an occasion or wanted to do something where he had to dress up and stuff. It may sound bad, but Sakura felt like that event was a little too sophisticated for her blonde teammate, and something just felt off with the whole thing. If all that wasn't strange enough, when she tried to talk to him Ino spat out some bullshit about not feeling well and the two left since he technically was only allowed to attend because of Ino.

All this, coincidently the same night she and Inuki broke the news of their relationship to Ino? Rather bizarre if you ask Sakura. She didn't want to let her mind run wild; these were her best friends and she should be able to trust them. Yet, Sakura found that a challenge. Sure, she and Ino had some bad blood over Sasuke way back in the day but this wasn't like that… It wasn't like Ino was going to try and steal her own cousin from her! So why couldn't she just ignore everything?

Sakura knew precisely why. She had a theory, one that she kept trying to ignore, pushing far into the depths of her mind where no forbidden Yamanaka jutsu from hell could ever find it. No matter how hard she tried, it was still there, lingering… Her theory made her furious even though she had no reason to think of it as a fact; she could continuingly suppressed it but no matter how hard she tried it was still there.

Sakura just needed to know _what_ was going on! There was something amiss and she was certain of it the more and more she thought about it! Anger was compiling as her best friend just walked beside her repeatedly dismissing Sakura's questioning. What was going on that those two needed to keep from everyone? And especially her of all people! This was her best friend and her— _no,_ best two friends in the whole damn world… And right now she felt like none of that mattered because… she didn't know. Sakura wanted to finish that thought but she found no way to, because Ino acted like her suspicion held no warrant, and dared play oblivious to being called out.

Sakura vowed to herself that she would harass this issue until this theory she had was either proven or annihilated, and until then her friends would be trapped behind her crosshairs.

Ino meanwhile felt as if she were trying to sprint on black ice as she did her best to shrug off the attitude her best friend was giving her. But Sakura had remained persistent, it was abundantly clear she wouldn't be getting out of this without giving something up. She didn't really want to admit she liked Naruto… Don't get her wrong, she was _NOT_ ashamed of it; she just felt like that was something that could wait. She hadn't even actually admitted it to Naruto himself after all, and while it was a bit typical for best friends to talk about the guy they liked… this was a little more complicated scenario.

For one thing, she had no idea how Sakura would react to such information. After all, the two of them used to fight over Sasuke! If you had told Ino at the time the conflict started that their friendship would be ruined over that jerk she would've never believed it. Then Ino always firmly expected Sakura would warm up to Naruto romantically but up to this point she'd been wrong to think so. So understandably, Ino wasn't really dying to tell Sakura about this and didn't trust herself to make the right guess as to what the reaction would be. For the time being she would rather brush it under the rug and continue to pursue her sexy prey.

"Why are you fighting me on this!?" Sakura hissed, "I really don't see the point in sneaking around hiding things from your friends with no merit at all!"

"I'm fighting you?" Ino's eyebrows shot up, "Are you fucking serious? You're the one who's been hostile; hell maybe if you have this interrogation taped you can send an application to T&I," Ino deadpanned.

"Very funny, you're being so mature about this. Just ducking behind anything you can come up with and hoping I'll piss off," Sakura grunted, her friend could be such a pain and she knew her too well.

 _Okay… time to play a trump card,_ Ino decided, resting a hand on her hip, "So now I'm not mature? Wow that's turning into a go-to insult for you these days…" She laid out smoothly.

Sakura's reaction was late, not quite deciphering the meaning at first, but her eyes widened in surprise when she caught it, "What?" She uttered, wondering what to think of Naruto telling a mere acquaintance of his like Ino about what she'd said to him the other day.

"I happen to know I'm not the only blonde around here you decided to describe using that term in the span of what… three or four days?" She appeared to have blindsided Sakura with that one as her anger momentarily shifted to guilt.

Sakura frowned, "He told you about that?" When Sakura had needed to vent to Ino about that same conversation the platinum blonde was referring to… She only stated that she 'said some things she didn't fully mean,' nothing specific, she was ashamed of how harsh she'd been with the Uzumaki. Apparently Ino consoled him or she wouldn't know that… But what did that mean? When did he do that? And why would he go to her?

"Well I kinda made him," Ino admitted, "I could tell something was wrong so I pestered him until he spilled his guts."

"What! How dare you mess with his emotions like that!"

Ino just stared back at her with a deadpan look, "…Really?"

Sakura looked down feeling like an idiot, "Yeah I know… ironic. Look, I feel like shit for that conversation but I was serious when I told you I was going to find a way to make it up to him. And that doesn't excuse you for poking at him making things worse for some gossip!"

"Gossip? I didn't tell a soul…" Ino retorted truthfully, "All I did was listen to him… And offer to keep him company." Sakura didn't need to know that right after that Naruto left her in his apartment to go train because he didn't want to watch what she wanted to watch. This sounded much better… Plus it didn't leave the wrong impression that her being alone in his place did.

"But why? What made you want to do that 'Pig? You've never felt like you needed to be there for Naruto in your life," She stated pointedly, "Now you're going out of your way to do favors for him regularly?"

"Being a good friend is doing favors? No wonder you two got into a fight the other day," Ino huffed, "With that outlook it's a wonder that anyone even talks to you."

Sakura wanted to scream at her, but she couldn't help but feel like Ino was right. She _did_ sound like a complete bitch again, didn't she? But this wasn't the same… When she realized how she must come across when she rejects Naruto she truly felt bad. This on the other hand? Not even slightly… She sounded like a bitch because she knew better than to pull punches in a verbal spat with Ino of all people. The Yamanaka heiress was too devious and cunning when it came to this sort of thing so Sakura would happily lay it all out to get her to just come clean, regardless of how it made her look in the immediate.

"An admirable deflection… But that's pretty much all you've done since we started this conversation."

Ino was grinding her teeth in annoyance, "Maybe that's because this conversation is asinine!" She glared and checked the time. If Sakura's persistence held up… It was going to be a long ass couple hours.

* * *

Tension could be seen as clear as the skies when Sakura and Ino arrived at the tower. Jiraiya sensed this and was quick to warn Naruto, who idly wondered what might've set the two of them off this time. "You remember what I told you about getting caught up in between two females that want to tear each other's guts out, right?"

"You mean the lesson on catfights?..." Naruto deadpanned, hoping that Pervy Sage's description of what that was wouldn't come to fruition between two of his closest friends outside the Hokage tower in broad daylight.

"No, no… But that would be nice," Jiraiya smiled slightly, "I was referring to the conversation about when two women you know get really angry and you somehow get involved. You remember my advice?"

 _'_ _Keep your distance from each of them at all costs, if that isn't possible, simply avoid discussions and topics about the other woman.'_ "…Yeah."

"Are you going to listen to wise ladies man like me?"

The Uzumaki snorted, "Don't push it, but yeah."

"Good, then if you'll excuse me Naruto…" He then raised his voice to get the girls' attention and so everyone could hear him, "I must be going!" Naruto's mouth dropped open as he realized he was being ditched, whereas Sakura and Ino both dropped whatever they were arguing about to stare at him confusedly.

"But what about exchanging thoughts and information?" The befuddled pinkette questioned the sage.

"Did you actually learn anything big?" He answered her appearing in a rush.

"Well no, but—"

"Us either, gotta go! Everyone be here tomorrow!" The perverted sage scampered off hurriedly which left each of the girls curious, and both failed to notice Naruto's alert expression having been abandoned at the scene by his master.

"Well that was weird… Anyway, how about I treat you to ramen Naruto? We haven't really hung out in awhile after all, and you were too busy being Jiraiya's messenger to have dinner with me a few nights ago," Sakura reminded, she cast a glance at Ino and caught an slight twitch from her best friend who was definitely hiding some animosity behind that makeup.

 _Oh yeah Sakura… Offer him free ramen! Because anyone can even hope to compete with that! There goes my afternoon plans…_ Ino ranted in her head, furious that Sakura's paranoia had just cost her a chance to spend some time with him using the cheapest tactic available. She was probably going to bombard him with questions and chase him off anyway, she supposed.

 _Damn it!_ Naruto cursed in his head, actually trying to cling to Pervy Sage's advice for a change but finding himself outmatched by the offering of ramen… "Sure, I'm starving!" _Idiot!_ He immediately chastised himself.

Sakura resisted the urge to make it clear that it wasn't a date. She didn't need to; he already knew about Inuki and if that didn't stop him then she would punch him in the face so hard the Akatsuki wouldn't be able to identify him when they did come in search of the Kyuubi, "Why don't you join us, Ino-Pig?" She sweetly asked immediately after, an innocent appearing smile on her face knowing she wouldn't come along.

"Oh no thank you," Ino rejected, "I have a headache," She stated, which was pretty much code for: ' _Piss off.'_

 _Dodged a bullet on that one…_ Naruto thought, still going by Jiraiya's advice on angry women. He wasn't going to be stuck in the middle of them and their spat, but he wasn't out of the woods yet, since now Sakura might talk about her problems regarding Ino to vent, which will now be nearly impossible to avoid because he stupidly accepted an invitation to get ramen… "Okay go home and relax then," Sakura said trying to appear sad but Ino just grunted and walked away.

"Catch you later, Ino!" Naruto made sure he called out, hoping his other friend wasn't _too_ upset… Maybe he needed to ensure that he partnered up with her tomorrow to help cool things down from whatever was going on.

"Let's go!" He then asserted towards Sakura, wanting to appear as normal as possible as he tasked himself of keeping the hell out of this.

Ino meanwhile was heated to say the least, she had spent all that time this morning putting up with Sakura's semi-delusional bullshit just to have her plan to hang out with Naruto and relax ripped from her. If that wasn't bad enough, the pinkette had pulled the ramen card! Seriously, that just pissed Ino off. Sakura knew what she was doing, she knows her teammate and definitely was playing dirty pool with that move. Why couldn't her best friend just butt the hell out of things and just stop overreacting!

 _It's like me and Naruto becoming closer is somehow going to fuck up all of our friendships! Leave it to Sakura to pull that one off!_ Ino seethed in her head. _Whatever, I need to do something to cool off and clear my head._

The Yamanaka heiress had been walking through the village streets on autopilot, naturally gravitating towards her house in the district of which the Yamanaka clan resided, currently passing by a compound that many of her cousins lived in. All that did of course was remind her that one of those cousins was now dating Sakura and bam she was back to thinking about the very person that had her so upset in the first place.

Ino huffed so sharply it was almost like a growl, and violently swung her head to the side a little to make her blonde strands adjust out of her eyesight. _I think I should go shopping… solo this time. That ought to help me turn my mood around._ She figured.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto had a good time hanging out at Ichiraku's.

Teuchi had seemed most pleased with Naruto's improved mood after the last time he saw him. And as usual the old man was all too eager to serve his ramen stand's most faithful customer. He also didn't mind making the ryo off the pink haired gal, but it was more important that the two of them actually appeared to be enjoying themselves considering how stressful things had been for Leaf shinobi the past few years. Naruto rarely displayed the effects and mood swings of that burden. Seeing one of his rare occasions where he was completely down in the dumps and then back to normal with one of his closest companions was a welcome sight.

Naruto began inhaling entire bowls of miso ramen and provoked Sakura's lecturing. The two briefly bickered about how many years she'd been voicing disapproval of his eating habits while he futilely attempted to defend himself and apologize for the billionth time they'd known one another. Naturally, this lead them on a little reminisce of the past. Mostly a few Team Seven memories, and a little even from the academy days. More often than either perhaps would've liked, Sasuke's name popped up. It was touchy subject for the loyal duo of Team Seven but neither would ignore his significance in those old times. When it came to the lost Uchiha, there was no one they could talk to about him that had the same understanding other than each other.

So eventually they gave up and just talked about Sasuke for awhile, and how they wish he would return to the village and hell maybe even give up a bunch of information on Orochimaru. That led to more serious discussion about the Snake Bastard and his future intentions. At some point they shifted from one Sannin to another, and talked about Sakura's recent training with Tsunade and then it finally came back full circle to Jiraiya and their current debacle with the pervert.

The two of them took turns laughing for awhile, each painting a picture of a possibility of who the pervert might be. Some of the names that came up had been quite amusing. Anko for example was actually one of those names, which wasn't too hard to picture but they were pretty sure she wasn't bi, and Naruto wouldn't want her to find out about this out of fear for his testicles and Anko's access to hungry pythons. Another one was actually Asuma; this idea stemmed from Naruto's experience with the Sandaime's covered up perverted nature that apparently Jiraiya either inherited. Or maybe deviance is a disease and Jiraiya actually passed it onto the old man? No one will ever know.

Nothing however, compared to how hard they laughed at the idea of Asuma's most accomplished student being the pervert. Yes, they actually discussed the odds of Konoha's number one cloud watcher turning into a window watcher.

From time to time, Ino's name would be mentioned or implied by Sakura, but Naruto religiously avoided the bait, determined to not be dragged into their argument. He couldn't figure out why, but every time Ino was brought up he felt like Sakura was being nosey or suspecting of something. It was honestly a little annoying but he tried to ignore it since it was pretty obvious something occurred between the teen kunoichi this morning. After spending over an hour at Ichiraku's the two parted ways for the day. Both had enjoyed spending some time with one another but neither walked away feeling how they expected they would.

Naruto had a good time and it had appeared that Sakura did as well… On the other hand felt like he didn't enjoy himself as much as he should have. Didn't he just hang out with his crush for over an hour? The girl who barely gave him time a day back when they started out as teammates but now just bought him a meal for no apparent reason. Why wasn't he happier about it? Why did he feel like it was a decent time but second fiddle to some of the other experiences he'd had throughout the week? The blonde thought it over for awhile, and was kind of surprised when he noticed some _one_ those other experiences had in common.

 _Ino…_

That's where Naruto's thoughts were focused as he scrubbed his hair in the midst of a hot steamy shower that he direly needed after the workout he put himself through after he and Sakura left Ichiraku's. Did Sakura really upset him that much that he couldn't appreciate a good time with her over lunch like before? Did something change between them because of their fight? Was he just resenting her because she chose to date that Inuki guy? Naruto sighed, he hoped that wasn't what it was… He didn't want to be like that. There wasn't a fiber of his being that didn't want Sakura (or any of his other friends) to be happy… So what was it that had him feeling this way?

Another idea he had was that he was enjoying Ino so much that his lunch seemed boring. And that thought made him feel terrible as he didn't want to think of his longtime crush as _boring._ Scratching his chin thoughtfully, he dismissed that theory. That couldn't be what it was, it's not like he didn't have any fun reminiscing or joking about Anko and the others…

He hadn't seen Ino at all really today… Which he found disappointing when he thought about it… Was he starting to _crave_ Ino's attention? More than Sakura's for that matter?

After drying himself he got dressed and shaved in silence. It was getting late but not too late to do anything… He found himself tempted to make contact with the person he desired to see… He stood beside the clock in his crammed kitchen in silence, literally watching it tick not sure if it was a good idea or not.

He didn't know why he was so hesitant, they were friends what was the big deal? She wouldn't be mad…

* * *

"You again," The long haired Yamanaka Clan Head commented upon opening the door, "What brings you here this time?" He asked politely even though the look in his eyes suggested he was displeased to see Naruto.

The Uzumaki gulped, he wasn't expecting Inoichi to be so intimidating all of the sudden. He had no clue what he'd done to trifle Ino's dad but the man had been friendly to him just a couple days ago… "I—I was hoping to speak with Ino."

"About what?" He demanded, "If I may?" He then added in a show of false politeness.

Before Naruto could answer, both gentlemen heard another person clear their throat behind them, commanding their attention "Is something wrong?" Ino asked, glaring at her dad.

"Why I have no idea what you mean sweetie," He answered oh-so casually.

"Uh huh…"

No one else said anything for a moment, each shooting glances at one another for a few moments, prompting Inoichi to give it up and excuse himself. He left the teen shinobi in privacy and shut the door on his way back inside. Ino noticeably relaxed, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine," Naruto shrugged, "Why was he acting like that? Did I somehow offend him last time?"

"No, he just saw us dancing last night…" She cracked a smile remembering it but it only made Naruto blush.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, he's going to be critical and overprotective at first but he'll come around," She warned.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure what she meant there, but wasn't going to press on it, "Well I—Uh, was just dropping by to see if you wanted to come over to my place for a bit." _Damn it don't stutter!_ He chastised himself, hating it when he ever seemed less than one hundred percent confident.

Ino's slight smile widened at that, "Sure!" She exclaimed seeming pretty excited, which made Naruto's momentary nervousness fade away, "I'll be right out I just need to grab a couple things, okay?" Naruto nodded robotically and she rushed back inside, he took zero shame in getting a nice look at her fine ass when she slipped through the door either.

 _I made her happy_. The orange clad shinobi thought to himself… His invitation made her happy. His heart skipped a beat, and suddenly all of the notions he had about Ino screwing with his head being so playful and not being serious in her actions most of the time seemed ludicrous. What the hell did he know? Maybe he was completely wrong and she was interested in him the whole time? Maybe she just knew Sakura was gunning for her cousin and was trying to get closer to him hoping he'd follow suit the whole time.

Surprisingly, that didn't upset him. How could it? If he was in her shoes, interested in someone whose eyes were definitively on another and thought he could flirt his way onto their radar and he had the confidence to try that he would to. Had he not been so young, it's quite likely he would've done the same thing with Sakura while she chased Sasuke. It was all speculation either way, he still didn't know what was going on in her head… But maybe it was time to stop assuming there was nothing between them. He just hoped this change of perspective didn't hurt him in the long run…

* * *

Naruto's focus on the movie was ruptured by the presence sliding up against his back taunting his sense of smell with an inviting elixir. She wrapped her arms around him and tugged at him to scoot back a little so that she was sandwiched in between him and the back of the couch comfortably. She rested her head against the sofa's arm just above his and she basically forced him to lay down with her. "It's fucking cold in here," She offered as an explanation for these new arrangements.

"I could turn the heat up ya know?" Ha, as if he wanted to.

"No, don't get up," She grumbled in a tired voice, she had him where she wanted him.

Naruto for his part had nothing to complain about… Slight heat resided in his cheeks as his mind briefly wandered to register the feeling of her chest being pressed up against his back. One of her hands slithered up to his chest likely to tease him, which he promptly ignored.

"We should do this more often…" Naruto commented.

Ino giggled, "Oh yeah? So you do have a little Pervy Sage in you?"

"I was referring to watching movies together!" He smirked.

"Riiight," She laughed, "Forgive me if I find that hard to believe 'hun."

That was two days in a row she called him that, "Is that my new pet name or something?"

"Eh, not sure yet. Honestly I think I can come up with something more original."

"I… Won't argue with that," He declared, deadpanned at the thought of how much creativity the two of them carried between them. _Oh God, she's going to start brainstorming on that when I'm not around now isn't she?_

"Thank you for inviting me over, Naruto."

He raised an eyebrow, "It's no big deal; there's no one else here in case you haven't noticed."

Though he didn't see it since his eyes were actually on the TV in that moment, her smile faded, "I know, I'm sorry you're so… familiar with what that's like."

"Meh, don't worry about it, I don't know any different."

"Well at some point that'll change," She pointed out, "You shouldn't take it lightly. It'll be quite the adjustment whenever you do live with someone."

"Yeah probably," he nodded, "But I don't think it's worth paying a lot of mind to until the subject actually starts to come up."

"I guess," She supposed, "Well…" She pulled herself up, taking the opportunity to place a hand partially on his hip and partially on his ass, using it to support her as she lifted herself over him and off the couch. She shot him a smirk and he tried to not seem like he was enjoying her teasing _too_ much.

"I think it's time to go home," She continued, "I don't want to face an interrogation if I show up too late."

Naruto laughed, "Well as long as he doesn't call in Ibiki for help I think you can handle him yourself; you seemed to have him under control earlier."

Ino deflated, "That's only because he knows if he gives us a hard time I can stick mom on him… But she won't help me if I'm staying out all night."

Yawning, she leaned in towards him after he sat up, "I'm getting tired anyways," She realized, giving him a quick hug before walking towards the door.

"See you tomorrow…" He bid farewell, getting nothing more than a wink in response from his attractive friend on her way out the door.

Sitting in silence for a moment, Naruto eventually weaved his fingers through his hair and spoke to himself softly… "What do I want?"

 ** _A/N:_**

 **I wonder what Orochimaru was doing to that guy… Pretty much just leaving it to everyone's imagination xD I knew I'd find a way to sneak him into this story one way or another… Even if it was just that tiny lil bit.**

 **And ooo The perv knows Naruto. Bah, that wasn't really supposed to surprise anyone lol, I'm quite sure everyone knew that much. I did drop a tiny clue in there though.**

 **What is this theory Sakura has about how strange Naruto and Ino are acting? And why does it hurt and anger her? Honestly, I'm a little worried about this part of the plot as per usual with my Sakura pieces in this story. My idea I feel is good, and where I'm going with this makes sense but I swear I've really had it up to here with my difficulty in portraying it the way I want. At any rate, I promise there is a point in this, it's not just random 'made Sakura an antagonist' shit. It probably doesn't fully add up to yall yet, but give it a little longer and you'll see why I made this a part of the story.**

 **If you're wondering why Sakura was a bitch to Ino but not Naruto based completely on suspicions… It's just a different approach for different people. She isn't afraid to make Ino hate her for awhile, but she doesn't want to anger Naruto if she's wrong, especially since he was already extremely upset at her recently AND she started dating someone else which can also be a cause of hostility if she 'pokes the bear' so to speak. So she tried to do some conversational fishing when they were at Ichiraku's which did not return much if anything.**

 **I know this bit was more on the dramatic side, expect next chapter to be focused more on Naruto and Ino together as opposed to separately. I also don't think my quality is up to the standard of previous chapters but this was written from scratch multiple times because for some reason I had a HELL of a time with this one. Plus I wound up combining some concepts between the different versions and it flows fine but idk I just can't seem to satisfy myself with this particular chapter ugh**

 **I'll be back with more as Naruto's life continues to further complicate ;) In a good way if a certain blonde has her say in it. Once again thank you for your patience, 'Til next time**


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